Monitoring Mission's Vehicles Torched in East Ukraine

Armored vehicles belonging to a special European monitoring mission were torched late Saturday night in an "apparent arson attack" in Donetsk, a  rebel-held city in east Ukraine.

Four of the vehicles were destroyed completely and two or three suffered from damages, according to a spokesperson from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring a ceasefire between pro-Russia separatists and government forces. Nobody was injured.

The vehicles were parked outside of the mission's headquarters at the Park Inn hotel when they were attacked at around 2.30 am. After the fire brigade was called, the fire took about an hour to extinguish.

Michael Bociurkiw, spokesperson of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, told VICE News the investigation was ongoing.

The security situation was still being assessed, Bociurkiw said, and keeping the 100 monitors they have working on the mission was a top priority. Until they have determined the cause of the fire and whether they are at risk of attack, the monitors will not be able to go out and report on the "dire situation" in Donetsk neighborhoods. On Monday, Bociurkiw said they would "look at the security situation again and see if we can go about our normal business."

"There are, it seems, some who would like the OSCE to stop reporting on what is going on in Donetsk," said the SMM on its Facebook page. There are some who believe that violent attack on civilians and their property is a justifiable means to this end. (…) The Mission has no plans to withdraw at this stage."

Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk blamed the attack on rebel "partners in crime," reported the BBC. A statement on the separatists official website blamed "Ukrainian saboteurs."

The suspected attack comes just two weeks after hundreds of protesters — mostly female — gathered in front of the hotel to decry what they believe to be the "the silence and blindness" and "pro-Kiev bias" of the OSCE's mission, as well as their failure to accurately report civilian deaths in areas that are under military occupation, such as Donetsk. Protesters also spray-painted vehicles belonging to the OSCE and the International Red Cross.

Andrew Hug, the Deputy Chief of OSCE to Ukraine, told Reuters the protest was 'aggressive and orchestrated." As a result of the unrest, Hug said the OSCE was forced to limit the mission's operations. Consequently, the protest was tantamount to "a type of censorship that is not acceptable."

On August 6, another smaller, more peaceful protest took place, when demonstrators poured red colored water outside down the street outside the Park Inn Hotel.

Bociurkiw says of the OSCE's work, "We report in an objective way. Our monitors risk their lives some days to go out and establish the facts." He said their units had also been repairing broken pipe lines, but that their operations were often interrupted by shelling or gunfire.

Ultimately, Bociurkiw believes that people are directing their pain and anger about the war, which has been ongoing since April 2014, towards the OSCE.

"People are protesting against the situation and the shelling," Bociurkiw said. "It's very bad for people in eastern Ukraine. There's a lot of built up frustration — the situation is dire."

The numbers spoke for themselves, he added. Close to 7,000 people have been killed, 70,000 wounded and according to the United Nations, over a million displaced.