OSCE mission in eastern Ukraine suspends operations amid protests

FILE PHOTO: Protesters set up tents in front of the Park Inn hotel housing OSCE monitor mission during a rally to demand release of a pro-Russian officer, captured by the Ukrainian military this week, in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine October 16, 2021. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

KYIV (Reuters) - The Organization for Security and Cooperation on Europe has suspended its monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine following protests near its headquarters in separatist-controlled Donetsk, the chief monitor said on Sunday.

About 200 pro-Russian protesters confronted OSCE monitors on Saturday to demand the release of a rebel officer captured by the Ukrainian military last week. The mission had faced previous protests organised by Moscow-backed separatists, but this time demonstrators appeared to block the entrance to the hotel where the monitors are based.