OSCE's Permanent Council to address Donbas conflict on August 19

Delegates of Serbia, which now chairs the OSCE Permanent Council, one of the main regular decision-making bodies of the Organization, have initiated a meeting to hear a report by Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine Ertugrul Apakan on the situation in eastern Ukraine, the OSCE's press service said.

Apakan is also to brief the members of the Council on measures taken in an attempt to settle the conflict.

The meeting will also discuss new facts of violence in Donbas, which, as OSCE monitors report, has recently seen more breaches of the truce and an increase in civilian deaths, the OSCE said.

The meeting will be held with due regard to the recent escalation in the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone in Donbas and new deaths of civilians.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian-backed militants mounted a heavy attack on the village of Lebedynske (formerly Novoazovsky district) and the village of Sartana (Ukrainian-controlled Mariupol's Illichivsky district) last night, using heavy artillery systems. Two people were killed and six were wounded in the attack. Two of those wounded, including a child, remain in a critical condition.