DONETSK/KYIV. Dec 27 (Interfax) - The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM) in Ukraine will publish in an operational report the information about the incident in the Kominternove area, where an SMM patrol came under fire.

The OSCE SMM in Ukraine confirmed that an incident with the use of small arms took place in the Kominternove area at 11.20 a.m. on December 27, a representative of the OSCE SMM press service told reporters on Sunday, noting that the small-arms fire had hit the place not far from an SMM patrol, which had been examining a shell crater. No SMM monitors were hurt, no OSCE vehicles were damaged, she said.

The SMM crew had to leave the area right after the incident and returned to a base in Donetsk controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), she said, noting that the detailed information about the incident would be published in an operational report by the mission later on Sunday.

Senior official with the DPR Defense Ministry Eduard Basurin said earlier that he had come under fire in the Kominternove settlement together with an inspection group, which included representatives of the OSCE SMM and the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC) of the ceasefire in Donbas. He said that the shelling had disrupted the OSCE and JCCC inspection.

No one has been hurt in the shelling. "Fortunately, no journalists and OSCE monitors have been hurt and Basurin has not been hurt, either. Basurin and the OSCE mission are now returning to Donetsk," he told Interfax.

Several VGTRK journalists have come under fire together with the OSCE monitors, the Rossiya 24 (VGTRK) television channel said. "The settlement has been shelled by mortars yesterday. The VGTRK filming crew has also come under fire on Sunday," the television channel website said in a statement.

"As soon as the OSCE started working, we heard single shots. As the military told us later, these were sniper rifles according to the sound. Then we began to hear assault rifle bursts [