Here's a piece by RFE/RL's Christopher Miller on the video we posted earlier:
Exclusive: Video Shows Moment Blast Hits OSCE Vehicle In Ukraine War Zone
KYIV -- RFE/RL has obtained a video via an official Ukrainian source that shows the moment a vehicle carrying OSCE monitors was struck by an explosion during a patrol in eastern Ukraine's conflict zone, killing an American and injuring a German and a Czech.
The clip captures a fireball and huge plume of black smoke as the second of two marked white cars traveling in separatist-controlled territory on April 23 struck what OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier said was "a mine...left on a road which is also used by civilians."
The victims were part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission (OSCE SMM), an unarmed, civilian operation with more than 650 representatives working to reduce tensions and report on the situation on the ground in Ukraine’s conflict zone.
The death of Joseph Stone, a 36-year-old paramedic, marked the OSCE mission's first death in a three-year-old conflict that has killed more than 9,900 people as Ukrainian forces battle Russia-backed separatists.
The OSCE SMM is an unarmed, civilian mission working to reduce tensions and report on the situation on the ground in Ukraine's conflict zone.
The OSCE has opened an internal probe and launched a criminal investigation into the incident.
Ukrainian government officials have blamed separatists, who have in turn said Kyiv was responsible for the deaths.
The six members of the OSCE team were traveling in two armored Land Cruisers near Pryshyb, in the Luhansk region, a town that sits right up against the front line of the conflict.
Principal Deputy Chief of the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine Alexander Hug (file photo)
At an April 28 press conference, OSCE Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said the route where the vehicle struck the explosive, likely a mine, was a planned route on a secondary road used two hours earlier and the previous day by the monitoring team.
Hug said the blast was powerful enough to throw the 4 1/2-ton armored Toyota seven meters away "and fully destroy it."
The video -- filmed from a northerly position and the only one of the incident to be unearthed thus far -- shows the two OSCE SMM vehicles driving east on a secondary road before disappearing behind a row of trees at 11:17 a.m. local time. Seconds later, after the camera is jarred or deliberately moved to follow the cars' route and as the camera focuses, a ball of flames and thick black smoke mushroom above the tree line.
WATCH: The Moment An OSCE Vehicle Exploded In Ukraine
In an extended version of the clip, a third, unidentified vehicle appears nine minutes later heading in the direction of the blast.
The source that provided the video to RFE/RL said the road has been used infrequently by civilians for some time due to its proximity to the front line and military activity around it.
The OSCE mission will release the findings of its own investigation into the incident once they are confirmed, Hug said.
The OSCE SMM has repeatedly demanded the removal of land mines and unexploded ordnance or, where that proves impossible, mapping, marking, and fencing off such areas.
In 2016, the OSCE mission verified 141 land mines and other explosives that caused civilian casualties in the region, including 96 injuries and 45 deaths of both adults and children.
Here's another video, this time from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
'A Dead Soldier Is No Enemy' -- Repatriating The Fallen In Ukraine
A mother finds her son's body, three years after he was killed in Ukraine -- thanks to volunteers who repatriate bodies following the credo: "A dead soldier is not an enemy."
Here's a video from RFE/RL's Multimedia Department:
The Moment An OSCE Vehicle Exploded In Ukraine
This video shows the moment a vehicle carrying OSCE monitors hit a roadside bomb in an area of Luhansk province, eastern Ukraine, controlled by Russia-backed separatists. An American paramedic, Joseph Stone, was killed in the April 23 blast -- the first member of the OSCE mission to die in the three-year-old conflict. RFE/RL obtained the video from an official Ukrainian source.
Yanukovych goes on trial in absentia for treason:
By RFE/RL
KYIV -- Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is being tried in absentia on high treason charges in Kyiv.
The trial began on May 4 at the Obolon District Court in the capital, with two lawyers representing Yanukovych.
Yanukovych abandoned office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of massive protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and improve trade ties with Moscow.
Dozens of people were killed in attempts to clamp down on the protests.
Yanukovych, who remains in Russia, is accused of treason, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression.
In the wake of Yanukovych's downfall, Russia seized control of the Crimean Peninsula and fomented separatism across eastern and southern Ukraine.
Kyiv and NATO say Moscow has given separatists who took over parts of the eastern Donbas region substantial military support in a war that has killed more than 9,900 people since April 2014.
Ukrainian authorities say a key piece of evidence against Yanukovych is a letter in which they say he asked the Russian leadership to intervene.
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations at the time, the late Vitaly Churkin, displayed the letter at a UN Security Council meeting on March 4, 2014, two weeks before Moscow claimed to have completed the procedure of making Crimea part of Russia.
A man officials say was a key witness in the case, former Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov, was shot dead in broad daylight in Kyiv on March 23.
Ukrainian authorities called the slaying of Voronenkov, who had defected to Ukraine in October, the "public killing of a witness" in the case.
Ilya Ponomaryov, another former Russian lawmaker who has left Russia, is expected to testify as a witness. Ponomaryov was the only member of the State Duma, Russia's lower parliament house, to vote against the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
After a debate between the state prosecutor and defense lawyers at the court session on May 4, Judge Vladyslav Devyatko ruled that Yanukovych should be given the opportunity to take part in the trial by video-link.
The judge then adjourned the proceedings until May 18.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor-General's Office said on May 3 that the international police agency Interpol had ceased searching for Yanukovych, adding that the decision will be appealed.
Yanukovych could be sentenced to 15 years in prison if convicted, but he is protected by Russia and would be unlikely to travel to Ukraine and serve the time.
At least seven other probes have been launched by Ukrainian authorities against Yanukovych, who was elected president in February 2010.
The charges against him range from corruption to involvement in the mass shooting of unarmed protesters in Kyiv in February 2014 as the standoff between his government and the Euromaidan demonstrators came to a head.