Luhansk Accuses Ukraine Of Hampering OSCE Monitoring Drones In Donbas

LUHANSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2021) Ukraine's armed forces continue to wage electronic warfare aimed at hindering the work of OSCE monitoring drones, Yakov Osadchy, a military spokesman for the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), said on Sunday.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) told Sputnik in mid-April that one of its monitoring drones was lost in eastern Ukraine in a non-government-controlled area as a result of a targeted attack. LPR leader Leonid Pasechnik told Sputnik that Luhansk forces never targeted SMM drones.

"Ukraine deployed an electronic warfare battalion [to the line of contact] whose task is to suppress the channels of control and navigation of SMM drones during their flights over the [Ukraine-controlled] settlement of Shchastya," Osadchy told a briefing.

However, the Ukrainian forces have somehow managed to suppress the controls of one of their own drones, which lost control and landed at a mine field in Donbas, the LPR spokesman said.

In late March, OSCE member states unanimously approved the extension of the SMM's mandate until 2022. The mission will continue with its duties of "facilitating localized ceasefires to enable repairs and maintenance to essential infrastructure, and monitoring ceasefire adherence."