OSCE reports shooting attacks on drones in Donbas
LUHANSK. July 27 (Interfax) - Observers from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) have recorded shooting attacks on their unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the conflict area in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, the SMM press service told Interfax on Wednesday.
"At 12:48 on 25 July, the SMM conducted a flight of its mini UAV on the southern edge of 'LPR' [the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic]-controlled Kalynove (58km west of Luhansk). The SMM heard four shots which it assessed as being fired from an assault rifle targeting the UAV. At the time of the incident, the UAV was flying 800 meters south-west of the launch site," the SMM press service said.
The shots were judged by the observers to have been fired from a location assessed as less than one kilometer west of the SMM's position, it said.
"The SMM managed to land the UAV, which did not sustain any damage, and proceeded to leave the location safely," it said.
"At 14:05 on 25 July, while attempting to conduct another flight with the same mini UAV south-west of 'LPR'-controlled Kadiivka (formerly Stakhanov, 50km west of Luhansk), the mini UAV again came under fire approximately four minutes into its flight (some 300 meters west of the launch site), this time by eight shots from what was assessed as a pistol," the SMM said, adding that the shots were supposedly fired from a location 300-500 meters west of the SMM's position.
Likewise, at 23:51 on July 25, while flying over government-controlled Avdiivka, "an SMM long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) experienced a loss of signal from the Ground Control Station and the SMM lost all communication with the UAV," the SMM said.