Donbass Insists on Simultaneous Arms Withdrawal, While Kiev Delays Pullout

The negotiators from the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk propose a simultaneous withdrawal of all heavy artillery from the line of contact, but Kiev prefers to withdraw its arms gradually, a Kiev subgroup negotiator on security said Thursday.

KIEV (Sputnik) – The withdrawal of heavy weaponry should occur after the signing of a document and then “only two days after the signing if there is a full ceasefire,” tanks should be withdrawn, Yevheniy Marchuk was quoted by Ukrainskaya Pravda news portal as saying.

“That side [DPR and LPR] proposes to pull out all types of weapons from the line of contact simultaneously. The Ukrainian side insists on a gradual withdrawal, starting with tanks first, then artillery, and then shells. The discussion is difficult and based on mutual distrust from both sides and modern military practice,” Yevheniy Marchuk was quoted by Ukrainskaya Pravda news portal as saying.

According to the Kiev negotiator, the sides agreed to imbue the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine with verifying the withdrawal of both sides.

The OSCE monitoring mission was deployed to southeastern Ukraine to observe the implementation of peace agreements reached in the Belarusian capital of Minsk with mediation by Russia, France and Germany first in September 2014 and then in February 2015.