OSCE reports increased use of heavy weapons in E. Ukraine

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Friday it has recorded an increased use of heavy weapons, which is particularly dangerous for civilians, in the conflict area in eastern Ukraine last week.

"The number of explosions from multiple launch rocket systems, mortars and artillery increased nearly by 50 percent from the previous week," Alexander Hug, the deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine, told reporters.

The increased use of Grad multiple rocket launchers is particularly troubling, Hug emphasized, explaining that the weapon, which delivers 40 rockets within 20 seconds, may endanger unprotected people.

"This system relies on firing a high number of rockets in a short time period -- it is not a precision-based weapon system. The use of it is likely less dangerous for those soldiers and armed men, who are in trenches, in secure defensive positions. For everyone else, the effect can be devastating," Hug said.

Under the Minsk peace agreement, designed to put an end to the conflict in eastern Ukraine, the government army and independence-seeking insurgents were meant to withdraw all their heavy weaponry from the combat area and place it into OSCE-monitored storage sites.

More than 9,600 people were killed and some 22,400 were injured since the conflict in Lugansk and Donetsk started in April 2014.