A/HRC/45/CRP.8 III. Impact of hostilities “As soon as HRMMU left the village, the military brought back their heavy weaponry and resumed shooting near my house. Which, as usual, resulted in return fire – a shell landed just a few metres from my house.” – A resident of a settlement near the contact line. 23. During the reporting period, the security situation in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine remained volatile with spikes in hostilities in March and May. Following the agreement reached by the Trilateral Contact Group on 22 July 2020, the Joint Forces Operation of Ukraine (JFO) and armed groups of self-proclaimed ‘republics’ issued and enacted orders on measures to strengthen the ceasefire from midnight on 27 July. The package of additional measures9 aims to make the ceasefire comprehensive, sustainable and unlimited, and if/ implemented would contribute to a significant decrease in new conflictrelated civilian casualties. A. Civilian casualties Civilian casualties in 2020 9 8 Heidi Grau, Special Representative of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), “Press Statement of Special Representative Grau after the regular Meeting of Trilateral Contact Group on 22 July 2020”, Kyiv, 23 July 2020, available at: www.osce.org/chairmanship/457885.