Ukraine rebels claim completion of weapons withdrawal
By
our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
Kyiv (dpa) – Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine on Sunday
claimed to have withdrawn all heavy weaponry from the front lines in
the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, thereby fulfilling one of the key
conditions of a peace deal hammered out in Minsk last month.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),
charged with monitoring weapons withdrawal on both sides, has not
confirm the move, which comes one day ahead of the March 2 withdrawal
deadline agreed in the Belarussian capital.
Alexander Hug, deputy head of the 450-strong OSCE mission in Ukraine,
expressed on Saturday “cautious optimism” about the ceasefire.
“We are currently seeing that the first step, the ceasefire, is
largely holding along much of the 500-kilometre front line,” said
Hug, whose mission is monitoring a 50,000-square-metre conflict zone.
“And we are seeing that both parties are taking steps to remove heavy
weaponry from the front.”
The government in Kyiv said that the ceasefire was largely holding in
the restive Donbas region, and that no shots had been fired overnight
to Sunday.
It noted that pro-Russian rebels had fired shots at Ukrainian
military positions on Saturday, a claim which the rebels dismissed as
a response to “provocation.”
Ukrainian media reported that a government soldier and a photographer
were killed in mortar strikes on Saturday, with the warring parties
blaming each other for the deaths. The photographer is reportedly the
seventh journalist to die in the conflict.
The withdrawal of heavy weapons, the creation of a demilitarized zone
and starting a dialogue between Kyiv and rebel groups are part of a
deal struck by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine in
Minsk last month.
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