Coordinator of the Contact Group humanitarian subgroup for the OSCE Charlotta Relander, on her visit to the Lugansk People’s Republic, saw school No 4 in the frontline Zolotoye-5 settlement, which had been repeatedly shelled by Ukrainian forces.

“We visited the school in Zolotoye which regularly comes under sniper fire,” said LPR representative in the Contact Group humanitarian subgroup, head of the LPR working group on prisoner exchange Olga Kobtseva who was accompanying the OSCE delegation. “We hope that Mrs Relander will be able to raise the issue at the (humanitarian subgroup talks) and show this problem, and that the strikes at the school will stop at last.”

School director Marina Tkachenko told the OSCE representatives that more than 70 children studied at the school. Their lives are in constant danger due to regular Ukrainian army strikes. The school often comes under fire although it is located far from any military facilities, she added.

Relander said that she was “appalled at what she saw,” underscoring that “the school cannot be a target for strikes as it is a civil facility.”

“As for my final comment on the school, it’s certainly a horrible sight; I didn’t know it was happening, the school is rather big as I’ve seen; it’s attended by many students, and their training, the school process depends on the school being here,” the coordinator for the OSCE said.

Earlier in the day, Relander saw the Lugansk-Schastye and Pervomaisk-Zolotoye crossing points which had been prepared for opening.

The Ukrainian government launched the so-called anti-terrorist operation against Donbass in April 2014.  Conflict settlement relies on the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, signed on February 12, 2015 in the Belarussian capital by the Contact Group members and coordinated by the Normandy Four heads of states (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine).  The UN Security Council approved the document by Resolution No 2202 of February 17, 2015 and called upon the parties to ensure its implementation. The document provides for comprehensive ceasefire, withdrawal of all heavy weapons from the contact line, starting a dialog on reconstruction of social and economic ties between Kiev and Donbass. It also envisages carrying out constitutional reform in Ukraine providing for decentralization and adopting permanent legislation on a special status of certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

To facilitate the work of the Contact Group, four working groups were set up under its aegis to deal with issues of security, politics, return of internally displaced people and refuges, as well as with social, humanitarian, economic and rehabilitation issues. *i*s