Eastern Ukraine's Ceasefire Is Still Being Disregarded

Ukraine's military has said that two of its soldiers were killed and two more were wounded after an explosive device was set off by "an enemy sabotage and reconnaissance group". Over 13,000 people have been killed since the conflict erupted in April 2014 while at least 1.5 million others have been displaced. Even though ceasefire agreements have reduced the level of fighting, violations and deaths are still commonplace.

Unarmed international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are continuing to monitor the ceasefire and the sheer number of violations is both staggering and extremely worrying. This year, 168,530 violations were documented by the OSCE between January and June. In 2018, there were 312,554 while there were 401,336 in 2017. Examples of violations include machine-gun fire and launching explosive projectiles.