“Yes, starting from today, the practical phase of the first stage of withdrawing equipment and weapons of less than 100mm from the line of contact has begun,” Anatoliy Stelmakh said on Ukraine’s 112-Ukraina television channel.
He said that the weapons would be pulled back at a distance of no less than 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) and would take 41 days for a full withdrawal.
On Tuesday, an agreement on the withdrawal of weapons of less than 100mm caliber from the line of contact in the country’s eastern regions was initialed in Minsk. Kiev, as well as Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics signed the agreement the following day.
The agreement on the pullback of this caliber of weapons, which the security subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukrainian reconciliation drew up in August, remained a controversial topic between the warring sides until recent weeks.
The Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine, which comprises representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), was set up under the Minsk ceasefire agreement in 2014 in a bid to promote direct dialogue between the parties to the Ukrainian conflict.
