Fire Halted in All but Two Areas of Donbas - Ukrainian President

© REUTERS / Gleb GaranichUkrainian servicemen stand near armoured personnel carriers, military vehicles and cannons at their new position as they pull back from the Horlivka region, near Druzhkivka, eastern Ukraine, February 28, 2015
Ukrainian servicemen stand near armoured personnel carriers, military vehicles and cannons at their new position as they pull back from the Horlivka region, near Druzhkivka, eastern Ukraine, February 28, 2015 - Sputnik International
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that artillery shelling no longer taking place along the line of contact between Kiev forces and independence fighters in Ukraine, except certain areas around the villages of Peski and Andreevka.

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KIEV (Sputnik) – There is no more artillery shelling along the entire line of contact between Kiev forces and independence fighters in southeastern Ukraine (Donbas), except Peski and Andreevka, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced in an interview with the Pershyi Natsionalnyi (First National) TV channel.

"I can say that today artillery shelling no longer takes place along the 485-kilometer (301-mile) front line, with the exception of certain areas around [the villages of] Peski and Andreevka," Poroshenko told the Ukrainian state-run TV channel late Monday night.

The Ukrainian president also said that the Donetsk Airport is the only place left in Donbas, where, according to Kiev forces' information, "several weapons" remain. Poroshenko proposed to send a special monitoring mission to the area, explaining that representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) "are denied" access to some parts of Donbas.

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A ceasefire came into force in Ukraine following the signing of the February 12 Minsk agreements, which also stipulate the creation of a secure buffer zone in Donbas through the withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the line of contact between the conflicting sides.

The Kiev forces announced last Wednesday that they had begun the second stage of their weaponry pullback. Meanwhile the Donbas self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk (DPR and LPR) said that they completed the withdrawal from the line of contact on March 1, meeting the deadline stipulated by the Minsk agreements.

The OSCE, which has been tasked with monitoring the ceasefire agreement implementation, has not fully confirmed the weapon pullback in Donbas, having requested more detailed information from both sides. OSCE monitors have also reported some continuing violations of the ceasefire, which came into force on February 15.

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