By attacking unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), Donbas occupiers are trying to intimidate OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) officials and force them to abandon monitoring in the Luhansk sector.
"On February 17, OSCE SMM monitors were located near the village of Zhovte (north-west of the city of Luhansk) and operated a UAV flight. Then, the monitors heard two bursts and a single shot from a firearm, about 1.3 km away. SMM says the shots were targeting the UAV, which immediately lost altitude. The team took the UAV, which was damaged during an emergency landing, and immediately left the area," the JFO HQ said on Facebook on February 20 citing Ukrainian members of the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC).
Read alsoOSCE monitors lose UAV in Donbas over area controlled by Russian proxy forces
According to the JCCC, provocative actions on the part of invaders aim to conceal their attacks on Ukraine's Joint Forces.
The Ukrainian side to the JCCC considers such actions "unacceptable and irresponsible" and qualifies them as a flagrant violation of Minsk agreements. "By such armed attacks, the invaders are trying to intimidate OSCE mission officials and force them to abandon monitoring in the Luhansk sector," the report says.
