On 4 February, an SMM patrol consisting of five members and two armoured vehicles was positioned near a checkpoint of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, approximately 300m north of the disengagement area near Zolote (government-controlled, 60km west of Luhansk), to monitor the security situation.
Between 10:25 and 10:30, two patrol members, who were standing next to the vehicles, heard five undetermined explosions at an assessed range of 2-3km east and south-south-east. At 10:30, having just entered the vehicles, the SMM patrol members heard three explosions assessed as impacts, and saw flames, smoke, soot and snow 70-100m east-south-east.
The SMM patrol immediately moved about 5km north to the eastern edge of Zolote-2/Karbonit (government-controlled, 62km west of Luhansk), where between 10:40 and 10:50, it heard an increasing number of ceasefire violations. The patrol left the area, and returned safely to its base in Sievierodonetsk (government-controlled, 74km north-west of Luhansk). SMM notified the Ukrainian Armed Forces side of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination and the armed formations about the incident.