The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has said the situation in the conflict zone in the Donbass region has escalated again.

Axar.az reports citing TASS.

"The parties do not fully comply with their obligations… Now we can say that a phase of escalation started. This is evidenced by 2,000 violations that our observers recorded from 17.00 Tuesday to 17.00 Wednesday," Alexander Hug, the Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, told reporters at a press briefing on Friday.

He noted though that, despite the complex situation, the SMM will continue to travel to any areas of the Donbass region.

On December 20, the Contact Group on the settlement in eastern Ukraine reached an agreement on yet another ceasefire at a meeting in Minsk, which came into force on December 23, in the run-up to the New Year holidays. However, the self-proclaimed Donbass republics have continued to register the shelling of their territories by the Ukrainian armed forces.