At least 478 civilians were either killed or injured during the conflict in eastern Ukraine's Donbas in 2017, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says.
Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, told reporters that 40 children were among those who were affected by the hostilities in 2017, according to Xinhua.
OSCE monitors have documented more than 400,000 cases of ceasefire violations in the conflict-hit region in the period under review, Hug said.
Besides, in 2017, monitors spotted over 4,000 pieces of heavy weapons, including mortars, artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems beyond the withdrawal lines, he added.
Read alsoOSCE’s Hug says SMM observations allow for early warning of impending escalationIn 2016, the OSCE recorded about 400 conflict-related civilian casualties in eastern Ukraine.
The confrontation between government troops and pro-independence insurgents has been spreading in Ukraine's east since April 2014, killing more than 10,000 people, including civilians and combatants on both sides, and leaving about 24,000 others wounded.
