Washington, DC. The death of the American OSCE observer was reacted to swiftly by the US government, which decided to go after the local administrations in Donbass rather than it’s client state in Kiev that continues the war in exchange for US funding and weapons.
An American OSCE observer has been killed by a landmine which blew up a monitoring team vehicle in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.Two other members of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe mission, from Germany and the Czech Republic, were wounded in the blast in Lugansk on Sunday
Sebastian Kurz, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the OSCE, called for an investigation and said on Twitter “those responsible will be held accountable,” which implies that it was not simply the OSCE vehicle backing over a mine, but an attack by Ukrainian soldiers active in the area.
Back in Washington, the US State Department expressed shock and sadness and extended condolences to family and friends of the victim, who was not identified. State Department Spokesperson Mark Toner said the US “again calls upon Russia to use its influence with the separatists to take the first step toward peace to eastern Ukraine and ensure a visible, verifiable and irreversible improvement in the security situation”.
In hostile remarks, Toner tried to put blame on Russia,”The United States urges Russia to use its influence with the separatists to allow the OSCE to conduct a full, transparent and timely investigation.”
The State Department said US secretary of state Rex Tillerson phoned Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko to discuss his recent trip to Moscow and his message to Russia that Moscow’s actions in eastern Ukraine remain an obstacle to improved relations with the US.
Mr Tillerson accepted Mr Poroshenko’s condolences for the OSCE observer’s death ,the two leaders agreed that “this tragic incident makes clear the need for all sides and particularly the Ukrainian government-under Poroshenko’s control to implement their commitments under the Minsk Agreements immediately”, the department said.
The MGB-LNR security minister for the Lugansk People’s Republic, said the mine had been laid by Ukrainian forces.
The freedom fighters and the Ukrainian government have been fighting in eastern Ukraine since 2014 in a war that has killed more than 100,000 people.