Donbas Militia Begins Unilateral Withdrawal of Heavy Weaponry

DONETSK (Sputnik) — Donbas militia has pulled out five artillery battalions and an artillery battery from the separation line with Kiev-led forces in the past 24 hours under with the recent Minsk peace plan, the deputy commander of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militia said Tuesday.

According to Eduard Basurin, another five artillery battalions and an artillery battery will be pulled out on Wednesday despite the fact that Kiev has not yet ordered its troops to withdraw heavy weaponry from the separation line.

Basurin cited intelligence reports indicating that Kiev-led forces had been strengthening their positions along the line.

Kiev military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, said earlier on Tuesday that government troops could start heavy weaponry pullout only if the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine remained stable for at least 48 hours.

Earlier on Tuesday, foreign ministers of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine met in Paris for three-hour talks on technical details of ceasefire implementation in eastern Ukraine. The ministers said the discussion was fruitful, and called for a total ceasefire in the embattled areas and for a strict compliance with the Minsk accords.

Under the peace accord reached in Minsk on February 12, Kiev and independence supporters committed to implement ceasefire from February 15 and start pulling back heavy weaponry from the line of contact within two days after ceasefire comes into force.

However, the warring sides kept accusing each other of numerous ceasefire violations. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) monitors said in a report Monday that the fighting in several locations in Donetsk region continued.