Kyiv completes arms pullout from eastern front: army
U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Washington welcomes the recent pullback of a few heavy weapons from the line of contact, but is disturbed by an uptick in ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine over the past two weeks.
Kyiv’s withdrawal came after pro-Moscow rebels said they pulled out their light arms from the area on Thursday.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) say they have been barred by rebels from accessing the area and have seen arms that had moved away from the front later return to their original posts.
“If rebels would not cease their provocations, the withdrawal of the armaments at the east will be stopped”, Oleksandr Turchynov, head of the country’s National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), was quoted by the NSDC press service as saying. “But if we must defend ourselves, we now only have guns, Kalashnikov (rifles) and stones”, said 39-year-old Eduard, a soldier in Ukraine’s 93rd Brigade.
While the deal led to a marked de-escalation in one of Europe’s deadliest crises since the Balkans wars of the 1990s, it remains unclear whether this semblance of calm will last.
The plan also calls for the creation of a 30-kilometer to 40-kilometer (18-25-mile) buffer zone between the warring parties. A similar withdrawal was completed last month in the separatist-held Lugansk region.
Those elections have now been pushed back to early 2016.
Accusing the pro-independence fighters of violating ceasefire nine times in the past day, Turchynov said that the government forces stand ready to bring back their weapons to the frontline if the attacks not halted.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the ministers agreed to press forward with the effort to ensure that heavy weapons are withdrawn.