Kiev Preparing to Withdraw Heavy Arms of Less Than 100mm From Donbass

Kiev is preparing to withdraw heavy artillery of less than 100mm caliber from the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said Thursday.

KIEV (Sputnik) – “Work on preparations for withdrawal is under way…we are fulfilling all of the Minsk agreement demands and are ready for this work as well,” Poltorak said.

On Tuesday, an agreement was initialed in Minsk on the withdrawal of weapons of less than 100mm caliber as well as tanks from the line of contact in the country’s eastern regions. On Wednesday, Kiev, Donetsk, and Luhansk signed the agreement.

The agreement on the pullback of this caliber of weapon, which the security subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine 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 in 2014 in a bid to promote direct dialogue between the parties to the Ukraine crisis.

The formation of subgroups of the Contact Group on political, economic, humanitarian and security issues was stipulated by the Minsk ceasefire agreement, worked out in February by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.

The Minsk deal also stipulated a ceasefire and prisoner swaps, among other measures.