DONETSK. Dec 15 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has called the attention of the Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Donbas, Alexander Hug, to the Ukrainian army's use of prohibited ammunition in the Donbas conflict zone.
"I'd like to address the international community in the person of OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Hug. The Ukrainian army has been actively using ammunition prohibited by the Minsk Agreements and international conventions. They are firing phosphorous munitions at the Donetsk water-filtering station and 122mm shrapnel shells in the Mariupol sector," Eduard Barusin of the DPR Defense Ministry said at a press briefing on Friday.
He also accused the Ukrainian army of "using artillery munitions to deliver Nazi-style propaganda leaflets threatening to kill women and children of Donbas."
Basurin asked Hug to pay attention to and condemn the Ukrainian actions and to take efficient measures to protect the DPR's population and the international law.
"For now, Mr. Hug, we view your inactivity as an obvious sign of unwillingness to record the war crimes committed by the incumbent Ukrainian regime. No matter what we and the JCCC report, not a single representative of the OSCE SMM has visited the attack sites. Citizens of our republic are still getting killed and injured as a result of the criminal actions of the Ukrainian army," Basurin said.
The conflicting sides recently exchanged accusations about the use of phosphorous munitions. The headquarters of the Ukrainian military operation in Donbas accused the Donetsk militia on December 6 of "failing to comply with the Minsk and international agreements" and having fired a phosphorous shell at the village of Novoselivka. In turn, a DPR representative said on December 8 that the Ukrainian army had fired phosphorous munitions in direct proximity to a Donetsk water-filtering station.