22 May 2018 09:02

LPR reports Ukrainian army's attack on OSCE patrol

LUHANSK. May 22 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Armed Forces opened fire on an OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) patrol near the village Kriakivka in the Slovianoserbsk district on Monday, Andrei Marochko, spokesman for the militia of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), told reporters on Tuesday.

"At 11:57 a.m. on May 21, a SMM patrol, consisting of five employees of the mission and moving in two armored vehicles, came under fire on the western outskirts of the populated locality of Kriakivka in the Slovianoserbsk district [controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces]," Marochko said.

The OSCE monitors heard four small arms shots fired at a distance of around 100 meters south of their location, he said.

"Fortunately, the international observers were inside the vehicles at the time and none of them was hurt," he said.

"The patrol immediately left this area and safely returned to its base in the populated locality of Severodonetsk. The SMM informed the Ukrainian side's group to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of what happened and asked it to look into this incident," Marochko said.