OSCE experts noted in their investigation report that on January 27 residential quarters of the city of Luhansk were shelled from Smerch volley fire systems, Deutsche Welle reports.
According to the OSCE, traces of damage on buildings is comparable to the damage that is commonly caused with shrapnel elements of cluster munitions, the report published on the website of the organization on February, 3rd said.
Observers found a hole in the roof of one of the houses. The house, they said, was apparently struck with a cluster bomb. In addition, members of the OSCE mission found fragments of missiles that were also characteristic of cluster munitions.
The observers suggest that the attack was conducted with the use of "Smerch" 9M55K 300-mm caliber missiles.
Near one of the buildings, the observers examined a crater, the diameter of which was about four meters. The crater is three meters deep. According to the OSCE mission, the crater was formed as a result of the explosion of a "Smerch" missile. It is assumed that the shelling was conducted from the north-northwest.
Two people were killed in Luhansk on January 27 as a result of an artillery attack. Two others remain at hospitals with severe injuries.
Donetsk was shelled last night as well. Ukrainian security forces opened fire from various types of arms, including howitzers. Nothing has been reported about possible victims yet. The Ukrainian troops shelled the city and suburbs at least 25 times in 24 hours, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports.
Noteworthy, a Smerch munition contains about half a million of strike elements.
Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry of the People's Republic of Donetsk, said that the National Guard opened fire on civilians deliberately, preventing them from leaving the combat zone."
The United Nations is concerned about the fact that Kiev prevents the delivery of humanitarian supplies and medicines to civilians in the Donbass, as well as the evacuation of civilians from the zone of the military conflict.
According to the report of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there are problems with the delivery of humanitarian assistance to residents of the breakaway regions in the combat zone in the east of Ukraine.
In addition, the UN is concerned about the decision of the Kiev authorities to impose restrictions to access the zone of the military operation.
Earlier, the United Nations suggested the parties to the conflict in the Donbass should enter "humanitarian truce" to give residents an opportunity to leave the war zone.
Noteworthy, Ukrainian refugees can escape only to Russia, as Ukrainian checkpoints do not allow residents of Luhansk and Donetsk enter the territory of Ukraine.
Pravda.Ru