IV. PARTICULAR HUMAN RIGHTS CHALLENGES IN THE EAST A. Impact of the security situation on human rights Deterioration of the security situation 152. The reporting period was marked by a significant deterioration in the security situation in eastern Ukraine. The HRMMU received credible reports illustrating an escalation of abductions, arbitrary detentions, ill-treatment, looting, as well as the occupation of public and administration buildings (with certain fluctuations, as some buildings are recovered by the Ukrainian military and law enforcement bodies, and some then again re-seized by armed groups). The period since the Presidential elections can be characterized by an increase of fighting in eastern Ukraine, with fluctuations in intensity. 153. The regularity and intensification of fighting between the armed groups and Ukrainian armed forces raises serious human rights concerns, including but not limited to: the fate of persons not involved in the fighting, especially children; the necessity and proportionality of the use of force; and the large-scale destructions, which only add to the social and economic hardship and a general lack of respect for international humanitarian law, when and where applicable to the fighting. 154. Violence and lawlessness have spread in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Having gained access to deposits of weapons, including from the SBU building, the armed groups increasingly started spreading violence. Abductions of persons not involved in any fighting and related acts of arbitrary detentions, looting, and killings of persons not involved in any fighting and other activities in violation of international law have been carried out by the armed groups. Moreover there are reports of victims being subjected to degrading treatment, random shooting and provocations, particularly near the Ukrainian-Russian border. Increasingly, attacks target ordinary people, who take no part in the fighting. 155. The security operations by the Government, with military and National Guard forces particularly concentrated around the town of Slovyansk, are present in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. With their superior manpower and military hardware, the Ukrainian armed forces have controlled access to the cities through multiple layers of check-points. 156. Skirmishes between armed groups and the Ukrainian military also saw the inclusion of various territorial defence battalions under the command of the MoI. 157. The HRMMU observed an increasing presence of armed men on trucks and armoured vehicles moving around the city of Donetsk during daylight. For the first time, the HRMMU team members were stopped as they drove in their vehicle through Donetsk by armed persons who demanded to see their identity. 158. In the two regions, the situation has been made complex as some of the armed groups operating in the regions have reportedly slipped out of the control and influence of the self-proclaimed republics and their leaders. Examples of this can reportedly be found 97 | P a g e