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OSCE staff member went missing in E. Ukraine

Xinhua, June 9, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors the situation in eastern Ukraine, said Wednesday that its employee went missing in the conflict area.

"One of our local staff in Lugansk region did not return from leave as planned, on June 7. The police was informed," the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission said in a statement on Facebook.

According to the statement, the missing OSCE employee is reportedly held in Donetsk city, controlled by independence-seeking insurgents, and talks are underway to set him free.

"We have demanded his immediate and unconditional release," the organization said.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian National Police department in Lugansk region said it has received a report of missing person, saying that a 37-year-old driver of the OSCE mission has disappeared on his way from the town of Stakhanov in Lugansk region to Donetsk region.

The OSCE sent its special observer mission to Ukraine in March 2014, following a request by the Ukrainian government.

Currently, some 700 organization monitors have been deployed in Ukraine, with 600 of them working in the conflict zone in Donetsk and Lugansk regions to monitor the ceasefire between government troops and pro-independence insurgents. Endit