Ukraine's pro-Russian insurgents said Monday had expelled two ceasefire monitors from the separatist Lugansk region, although the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) denied the report.

"It happened last week. We asked two OSCE monitors to leave," a senior official in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic told AFP on condition of anonymity.

But the monitoring mission's deputy chief Alexander Hug said in an emailed statement that "no monitors have been removed from Lugansk region."