"We are working to ensure the strict implementation of the Minsk memorandum," the Defense Ministry's press service said citing Maj. Gen. Oleksandr Rozmaznin, Deputy Chief of the Main Command Center of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The withdrawal was brokered during last talks between the Contact Group on Ukraine reconciliation, which were held on Wednesday in Minsk. The agenda of the meeting also included prisoner swaps and the end of an "economic blockade" imposed by Kiev on self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (LPR and DPR).
On December 16 the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reported that the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics had started withdrawing large caliber weapons from the country's southeast. Ukraine's army claimed that it would start withdrawing heavy artillery from the line of contact only after the full cessation of hostilities.
The LPR and DPR have been involved in an ongoing confrontation with Ukrainian government forces since April, when Kiev launched a military operation in the regions over their refusal to recognize Ukraine's new government after a coup in February.
