This report is for media and the general public.

The SMM continued to monitor the implementation of the provisions of the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum and the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC). In the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk the SMM visited areas impacted by recent shelling.

At the JCCC headquarters (HQ) temporarily relocated to Soledar (77km north of Donetsk, government-controlled) officers from the Ukrainian and Russian Federation Armed Forces were present with members of the so called “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) and “Lugansk People’s Republic” (“LPR”). The Ukrainian Major-General, Head of the Ukrainian side to the JCCC and the Russian Federation Major-General, Representative of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation to the JCCC told the SMM that JCCC personnel were awaiting the outcome of negotiations in Minsk and that the JCCC was ready to commence implementing agreements reached in Minsk. According to the incident log provided to the SMM, the number of ceasefire violations reported to the JCCC in the last 24 hours reached 88, which represented a considerable decrease in comparison to the previous reporting cycle (124 breaches). However, JCCC interlocutors said that almost all violations have been by multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), heavy artillery and mortars, with the areas most affected concentrated in Debaltseve (55km north of Donetsk, government-controlled) and Novoazovsk (120km south-east of Donetsk, “DPR”-controlled).

In Donetsk city the SMM visited Hospital number 20 which was shelled on 11 February from 20:00 to 21:00hrs. The SMM followed up on information it had received from the local “emergency services” and hospital staff, who said that one civilian was killed and four injured. The SMM observed that two mortar shells had impacted the hospital directly, and was told that they had wounded a 37 year old female nurse. One of the hospital’s laboratories had been destroyed by fire caused by these impacts. Further mortar shells had also struck the ground outside the hospital, causing the death of one person – a 65 year old male – and injuring another three persons. One of the four mortar shells fired had not exploded. Due to the security risk imposed by the proximity of the unexploded ordnance, the SMM could only deduce the direction of impact of three mortars, which SMM assessed as having been fired from 330 and 340 degrees in a north-westerly direction.

While traveling to Dmytrivka (85km east of Donetsk, “DPR”-controlled) the SMM saw six civilian fuel tankers, all with civilian Russian Federation number plates, leaving the village. The SMM determined that the trucks had entered Dmytrivka from the road leading to Dibrivka (93km east of Donetsk, “DPR”-controlled). In Dibrivka, the SMM located a small dirt road leading south towards the border with the Russian Federation. On this road the SMM saw dual axle tyre marks visible in the mud, indicating that trucks had been using this road. On the road back to Dmytrivka the SMM saw nine more civilian fuel tankers heading to the Russian Federation border. Some of the trucks had Ukrainian plates and others had Russian Federation plates. SMM also observed a single T-72 tank, with “345” marked in white paint on its turret, on the north side of the highway, at a fuel station, in Serdite village (50kmeast of Donetsk, "DPR"-controlled).

At a checkpoint in Volnovakha (51km south of Donetsk, government-controlled) the SMM was asked by the Ukrainian Armed Forces checkpoint guards to present passports before being allowed passage. At a different checkpoint, as the SMM attempted to cross Kurakhove Dam (52km east of Donetsk, government-controlled), it was stopped and denied passage near the dam by personnel who identified themselves to the SMM as members of a volunteer battalion from Kyiv.

On 12 February the SMM visited in Luhansk city a number of areas affected by shelling which occurred at 00:15hrs the same day. On Stara Mogila Street (approximately 6km south-east of the city centre), the SMM spoke to a de-mining team from the “ministry for emergency situations” of the “LPR” who said that they had removed from a children’s playground what they said was the body of a rocket fired by a Smerch MLRS. Based on the angle of the impact, which the SMM measured, the SMM estimated that the firing had originated from a north-westerly direction. On Oboronna Street the SMM observed the body of a rocket in the soil. Based on the diameter of the rocket and its marking, the SMM assessed it to be a Smerch and based on the angle of the impact, the SMM estimates that the firing originated from a north-westerly direction. At the Luhansk municipal bus company parking, located at Olega Koshevogo Street, the SMM observed the empty cluster cargo compartment of what it assessed to be the same type of rocket. The SMM observed damaged houses on Volgodonska Street. The damage to the buildings (broken windows, roofs, fences) was estimated by the SMM, based on the small size of the shrapnel and the high number of impacts on the wall, to have been caused by explosions of bomblets from cluster munitions. In Arkhticheska Street (approximately 1,2km east of the city centre) the SMM observed nine impacts – small craters – in the yard and on the roofs of buildings. Based on the small size of the impacts the SMM estimated that cluster munition was used.

On 12 February, 2km north of Kapitanove (72km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled) at 10:35hrs the SMM heard three kilometers south-west from its location 14 outgoing Grad rounds, fired towards the south. At 10:52hrs, one outgoing howitzer shell was heard, 500m away from the SMM position firing towards the south. At 10:56hrs, one kilometer north of Kapitanove the SMM heard approximately 100m away from its location outgoing fire and observed six Grad rockets fired towards the south. The SMM drove away and 3km to the north of Kapitanove at 11:10hrs heard another seven outgoing missiles fired from what the SMM estimates to be the same Grad system towards the south. In Hrechyshkyne (74km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled), at 11:45hrs the SMM heard six outgoing Grad missiles fired towards the south approximately 10km away from the SMM location. At 12:05hrs, in Putylyne (74km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled), the SMM heard eight Grad rockets explosions – but could not determine if incoming or outgoing – and three outgoing mortar rounds, fired towards the south, about 5km from the SMM position.

On 12 February the SMM met with the head of the Labour and Social Security Department in Starobilsk (90km north-west of Luhansk, government-controlled) who said that 12,692 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have registered with the department since June. According to the interlocutor many IDPs returned to Luhansk in October to ensure their personal property was secure, whilst many others travelled to Luhansk for the New Year and have not been able to return to government-controlled territory due to restrictions at checkpoints and the ongoing fighting. Some IDPs, according to the interlocutor, have had to travel back through the Russian Federation to return to government-controlled territory. According to the interlocutor, since January 2015 there had been a steady increase of IDPs coming mainly from towns along the contact line such as Shchastia (23km north of Luhansk, government-controlled) and Stanytsia Luhanska (19km north of Luhansk, government-controlled). The interlocutor said that if there continued to be an influx of IDPs, schools and other facilities that have electricity, heating and canteens would be used to accommodate IDPs.

On 11 February the SMM attended the weekly IDP co-ordination meeting hosted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Dnepropetrovsk. Representatives of the State Emergency Service, present at the meeting, stated that they helped organisations such as the Red Cross to provide escort to 164 children from Debaltseve, who were accompanied by 9 adults. These were not their parents – who had however given permission for the children to be evacuated. Another 158 children from throughout the conflict zone have already been brought to different locations in Dnepropetrovsk region. In Dnepropetrovsk the OSCE Secretary General, together with the SMM Chief Monitor, visited the IDP co-ordination centre, where they spoke with the co-ordinator and had a tour of the facility.

On 10 February the SMM visited the crossing points of the administrative boundary line between the Kherson region and the Crimean peninsula located at Stavki (Kalanchak district) and Kairka (Chaplynka district) (respectively 115km and 122km south-east of Kherson). The SMM observed long queues of outbound trucks waiting to cross into Crimea at both crossing points, counting some 240 trucks in each of the locations. The trucks were mainly carrying basic foodstuffs. The SMM spoke to several truck drivers queuing at both crossing points. They said they were waiting since Saturday (three days/nights) and might be waiting five to seven days in total, due to the long times required for customs document processing and physical examination. The border guard representatives the SMM spoke to, said that a new government decree entered into force on 10 February, (number 38 of Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers, on “Certain Issues Strengthening Ukraine’s National Security Level”) would be enforced in the Chaplynka and Novotroitske districts. They noted that this already applied to the Kalanchak district The decree, according to them, meant that citizens travelling on the roads in these two districts needed to carry appropriate identification documents with them at all times, in case of checks.

The SMM met the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) of the Ivano-Frankivsk region, who said that the main security concern in the region is the existence of concealed weapons among individuals who have been participating in the conflict in the Donbas. In this regard, he mentioned the bomb incident in Ivano-Frankivsk, where a man upon his return from the conflict zone had activated a hand grenade, killing himself and his spouse.

The SMM also continued monitoring the situation in Kharkiv, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Lviv and Kyiv.