Mortar Shells Fired Near Contact Line in Eastern Ukraine - DPR Representative

DONETSK (Sputnik) - Ukrainian security forces have fired mortar shells in the vicinity of the contact line near the village of Petrivske where the opposing sides have withdrawn military equipment in accordance with a an earlier agreed upon peace plan, a representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) told media on Saturday.

"We recorded nine 82 mm [3.2-inch] mortar shells fired by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the direction of [Kiev-controlled] Bogdanovka and [DPR-controlled] Petrivske", he said.

On 9 November, both the DPR militia and the Ukrainian security forces began withdrawing troops near Petrivske. The process monitored was by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). The same day, the DPR announced that it had fully withdrawn its forces from the area. On Monday, the Ukrainian military said that it had also completed the practical phase of the troop pullout.

The withdrawal began when Kiev agreed to a Donbass peace plan called "the Steinmeier formula" that would see the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, collectively known as Donbass, gain special status within the country. The withdrawal began on the contact line at the villages of Zolote in Lugansk and Petrivske in Donetsk.