VIENNA, December 28. /TASS/. Small arms fire at observers of the Special Monitoring Mission [SMM] of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE], as well as a group of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) of the ceasefire regime in Donbass and servicemen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic [DPR], accompanying them, near the village of Kominternovo, was delivered from the northwest direction, an OSCE report said.
"At 10:53hrs on 27 December, an SMM patrol comprised of six SMM members in two armoured vehicles arrived at 3.5km south-south-west of the centre of Kominternove village [92km south of Donetsk, 23km north-east of Mariupol] from "Donetsk People’s Republic" ["DPR"]-controlled Zaichenko (90km south of Donetsk), escorted by armed "DPR" members and a Russian Federation representative of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination [accompanied by a media representative]," the report said.
"There, the SMM started monitoring on foot and found three craters in an agricultural - not cultivated - field," it said.
"At 11:20hrs, while conducting analysis of the third crater, the SMM heard three single shots of small arms, outgoing 150-200m north-north-west of its position, and saw the third shot impact on the ground 5-7m north-east of its position. The SMM left the area immediately," the report said.
"On its way to its vehicles, the SMM heard a burst of small-arms fire originated from the same location," it said.
"There were no injuries to SMM members or damage to its vehicles; the SMM returned safely to its base in Donetsk city at 14:39hrs," the report said.
The DPR Defense Ministry reported the day before than a Ukrainian army sniper opened fire near Kominternovo at SMM, JCCC representatives as well as DPR Defense Ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin and a Russian television crew.
The journalists, from VGTRK, later said fire was at first delivered from small arms, and later, when they left the village, a mortar strike was delivered.
The village of Kominternovo, located in the buffer zone between the positions of the DPR and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, came under intense shelling on December 25. At least 240 shells were fired at the village over three hours.