Kiev Refuses to Fully Pull Back Weapons Until Militias Withdrawal Confirmed

The Donetsk and Luhansk militias said they had met the March 1 deadline for pulling back their artillery, however, the OSCE said it could not verify the information.

KIEV (Sputnik) – Kiev-led forces will not pull back all of their artillery from the line of contact with independence militias in eastern Ukraine as they do not have confirmation of the withdrawal their weapons, a Kiev military spokesperson said in a briefing Monday.

The withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the line of contact in Ukraine's Donbas region is stipulated in the Minsk ceasefire deal signed by the warring sides in February.

"We will not fully bare our frontline, as we are waiting for the enemy to prove that they have really withdrawn their weaponry," Andriy Lysenko said.

Lysenko said that Kiev had already conducted four rounds of heavy weapons' pullout, and was expecting the independence supporters to do the same.

Ukraine has been mired in an internal conflict since last April, when Kiev launched a military offensive against independence supporters in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Over 6,000 people have been killed since the beginning the conflict.