“Trucks are being readied to withdraw [heavy artillery] so now the second stage has begun,” Lysenko said during a briefing in Kiev.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s special operations press center said that Kiev was preparing to start the withdrawal of heavy arms.
“Ukrainian fighters are continuing to fortify defense lines and preparing for the second stage of redeploying artillery systems to a certain distance during the international agreements,” the press center said.
On Sunday, Ukraine's self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk said they had completed the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact.
Weapons pullback is embedded in the Minsk peace accord hammered out by the leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine on February 12. Alongside heavy weaponry withdrawal, the agreement includes an all-for-all prisoner exchange and the ceasefire that came into force on February 15.
