The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's special mission to Ukraine on July 28 made a fresh appeal to all sides in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine to guarantee safe conditions for its monitors after one of its officers was wounded during an exchange of fire.
Alexander Hug, the deputy head of the OSCE mission, said its monitors have "come under fire countless times... despite the fact that all sides know about our presence."
The mission said in a report that a patrol leader from the monitoring mission was struck on July 27 by concrete debris caused by an explosion which hit the mission's car near Shyrokyne, a small town beside the strategic port of Mariupol.
The OSCE’s unarmed civilian observers are monitoring the implementation of a cease-fire deal reached in February in Minsk between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists.
