As reported earlier, during the repair work at the electrical substation, the armed formations of Ukraine opened sniper fire at the repair crew and DPR representatives to the JCCC, who were monitoring the situation in accordance with the existing coordination and security control mechanism. An unarmed monitor from the JCCC suffered a gunshot wound to the right forearm during the firing.
We do not rule out that those actions by the AFU are connected with the recent threats from the Ukrainian party’s official representative to the talks against DPR monitors at the JCCC, who, among other things, did daily escorts of working teams to the Donetsk Filter Station and the Vasilyevka first-stage pump station of the Yuzhnodonbassky water duct.
We remind you that the agreement in accordance with which JCCC representative escort rotation of working shifts to the DFS based on a special order was reached back in June 2018 because the armed formations of Ukraine from the positions that they occupied in violation of the Minsk Agreements and which were located 170 meters from the station fired at a convoy of the station’s workers, as a result of which 5 workers were wounded, and also because the OSCE SMM refused to patrol the area for security reasons after that accident.
Taking into account the above facts, the DPR Representative Office to the JCCC has been forced to temporarily suspend its escort during the rotation of working shifts at the DFS and the VPS. In the absence of security guarantees and escorts, the station’s staff refuse to go to the station, objectively fearing for their lives. In this regard, the management of the Voda Donbassa Public Utilities Company has decided to shut down and mothball the DFS and shut down and mothball the VPS tomorrow, on March 26, until DPR representatives to the JCCC are able to escort the rotation of working shifts to both stations, which is currently impossible through Ukraine’s fault.
These actions of the Ukrainian side grossly violate the existing regulations of the agreements previously reached. Against the background of clarion calls for truce due to the spread of COVID-19, the Ukrainian side continues firing at the Republic and thwart both repair work and operation of important facilities providing essential services to civilians on either side of the contact line.
Today, we have sent an official note to the OSCE SMM demanding that this critical situation must be urgently addressed and asking assistance for speedy restoration of the existing mechanisms of providing security guarantees for carrying out rotation of working shifts at the essential water treatment facilities and repair work to prevent further humanitarian collapse.