KIEV (Sputnik) – The Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE SMM) insists on having constant access to places where heavy weaponry withdrawn from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine is being stored, spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said Thursday.
He told reporters in Kiev that the access was needed to properly verify the withdrawal process.
Earlier on Thursday, negotiator for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin said that the withdrawal of heavy weaponry in eastern Ukraine was taking place in an “extremely tense” environment.
Pushilin stressed that the Ukrainian forces, unlike Donbas militia, had not started to pull back their weapons yet. Kiev authorities said the ceasefire was not stable enough to begin the withdrawal.
Under the Minsk peace accord agreed on February 12, the warring sides should begin the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the line of contact no later than on the second day after ceasefire implementation. Under the deal, the ceasefire date was set for February 15.
