The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine demands that Russia give the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) access to the occupied territories of Donbas.

“Russia and its proxies must allow lifesaving aid to flow and the OSCE SMM - Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine to fulfill its mandate unimpeded throughout Ukraine,” the embassy wrote on its Facebook page.

Since March 21, members of the armed formations at checkpoints in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine have denied the patrols of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) passage into and from non-government-controlled areas.

In addition, UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are facing difficulties in accessing the non-government-controlled areas.

The European Union urged Russia not to create new obstacles to efforts within the Normandy format and the Minsk process.

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