OSCE SMM reports distance decrease between the parties to the conflict in the Donbass

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission notes a decrease in the distance between the positions of the parties in the Donbass in 2017. This was stated by the first deputy head of the OSCE SMM Alexander Hug in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

"The distance between the positions changed in 2017. We saw that sometimes they approached each other: every time the parties move their positions closer to each other, we note the increase in tension, which often leads to violence", - he stated.

He also noted that last year the OSCE SMM recorded more than 401 thousand ceasefire violations. "This is an impressive figure, this should be changed", - Hug said.

According to him, there were 478 civilian casualties last year, of whom 86 were killed, the others were injured. In 2016, there were fewer victims - 442 people, of whom 88 were killed. "There may be more of them, these are only figures that we were able to confirm", - said Hug.