OSCE: Parts of eastern Ukraine remain 'tense'

KIEV, Ukraine, July 16 (UPI) -- The situation in parts of eastern Ukraine is still tense, the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine reported Wednesday.

In Luhansk, the OSCE noted that the speaker of the self-proclaimed Supreme Council for the Luhansk People's Republic proposed a prisoner swap, releasing captured Ukrainian soldiers in exchange for imprisoned LPR supporters "based on a 'one to one' principle."

The situation in Donetsk was also described as "tense." The SMM relayed local media reports of "fighting, involving heavy artillery" in the southwestern suburbs. Traffic lights were also out of service, the SMM noted.

Militants in control of Donetsk who call themselves the "'Donetsk People's Republic' established a public security structure called the 'NKVD.'"