REUTERS
The number of members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine will be increased to 600 people by summer, spokesman for the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Andriy Lysenko said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
"Due to absence of a sustainable ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, the OSCE will increase the number of its observers in the Donbas to 600 people" he said referring to OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier.
The OSCE reported that to date, the mission has exceeded the number of 400 observers, 350 of observers working in the East of Ukraine, where they are responsible for monitoring the ceasefire and verification of the withdrawal of heavy weapons.
As reported by sources in the OSCE, in the period of consultation on the extension of the mission’s mandate there have been suggestions about combining civilian and military components of the mission.
However, the SMM still remains a civilian mission.