No Information on Weaponry Withdrawal Starting at Midnight – DPR

DONETSK (Sputnik) — The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in southeastern Ukraine has no information regarding the start of heavy weaponry withdrawal from the region, DPR deputy commander Eduard Basurin has told RIA Novosti.

"I have no information yet on the heavy weaponry withdrawal starting at 12:00 am," Basurin said late Monday.

Earlier on Monday Basurin confirmed the readiness of militias in southeastern Ukraine to withdraw heavy artillery if the Minsk ceasefire agreement is observed. Speaking to the Rossiya-24 TV channel the deputy commander stressed, however, that a full ceasefire would be difficult to implement.

The ceasefire between Kiev forces and independence supporters in eastern Ukraine was agreed at the February 12 Normandy format talks held in Minsk between the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia. The deal stipulates that heavy weaponry is withdrawn from the line of contact between the conflicting sides in southeastern Ukraine within two weeks starting from February 17.

The ceasefire itself came into force on Sunday, February 15, at midnight (Kiev time). Later in the day, the head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine announced that the truce was generally holding.

This is the second ceasefire agreed upon between Kiev forces and independence fighters. The first such agreement was reached during a Contact Group meeting in Minsk in September of last year, however, clashes continued in southeastern Ukraine through the end of 2014 and intensified at the start of 2015.