Ceasefire violations in E. Ukraine highest since year-start: OSCE

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Thursday that ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine last week have reached their highest level since the stsrt of 2016.

"The number of ceasefire violations recorded by the OSCE monitoring mission increased by approximately 150 percent compared to the week before. It was the highest number over the course of the year," Alexander Hug, the deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, told reporters in Kiev.

Last week, the conflicting sides have fired more than 3,400 shots against each other from heavy weapons, which are banned under the Minsk ceasefire agreement, Hug said, noting that the figure marked the highest number of such explosions ever recorded.

The OSCE official expressed the concern over the growing fighting, especially in residential and populated areas, saying it endangers the lives of civilians.

The number of civilian casualties in the restive region has doubled in the past week compared with a previous one, Hug said, without giving exact figures.

More than 9,600 people were killed and some 22,400 were injured in the conflict between government troops and independence-seeking insurgents that started in eastern Ukraine in April 2014. Endit