The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on the eve of a new round of talks on a peaceful settlement in eastern Ukraine noted a sharp increase in the number of violations of the ceasefire in the region. Over the past week along the almost 500-kilometer line of contact on the Donbas, more than 1,200 violations have been registered - almost 1.5 times more than a week earlier, the head of the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine, Alexander Hoog, told Deutschlandfunk radio station.

Hoog, however, noted that the situation in the region is constantly changing: there are weeks when the Donbass is calmer. At the same time, violence in the conflict zone occurs daily. "There was not a single day when they would not shoot," the Swiss diplomat said. The head of the OSCE mission considers the problem that the sides of the conflict are too close together and heavy weapons such as tanks, howitzers and artillery, contrary to the Minsk agreements, Are not diverted from the line of contact. Most fights are in five hot spots, especially in the Donetsk region. As the fighting occurs near populated areas, civilians often die: only from the beginning of the year, 44 civilians died in the Donbas - more than twice as many as in the same period of 2016,.

He stressed the danger of the work of the OSCE observers in the Donbass, recalling that in April two members of the monitoring mission were killed in the region: their patrol car was blown up on a mine.

"Since April 23, our patrols are moving only on concrete and asphalt roads. This, of course, limits our work. We no longer go to the villages that we visited before, "said the representative of the OSCE.

Hoog positively assessed the forthcoming meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Norman Quartet - Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia on May 30 in Berlin. "Conflict can be settled only politically. Therefore, negotiations at all levels, including this one in the Norman format, are very, very important, "he explained..