DPR completes withdrawal of weaponry from contact line
The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, DPR, has
completed withdrawal of weaponry of less than 100mm caliber from the contact
line in Donbas, DPR defense ministry said on Wednesday.
"The unilateral withdrawal of weaponry from calm areas
on the front line for three kilometers has been completed in DPR," the
Donetsk News Agency quoted DPR defense ministry spokesperson as saying, reports Tass.
The defense ministry stressed that tanks and armored
vehicles will remain on positions in "hot spots" to the north of
Donetsk and in Debaltseve.
On July 18, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk
republics (DPR and LPR) announced their plans to unilaterally withdraw heavy
weaponry from the contact line. LPR also completed the withdrawal of weaponry
from the contact line, leaving tanks and armored vehicles on positions only
near the Schastye settlement.
On Tuesday, the Contact Group on Ukrainian settlement
reached an agreement on gradual withdrawal of weaponry of less than 100mm
caliber by both sides.
Weaponry withdrawal is envisaged by the Minsk agreements on
Ukraine. The Minsk accords were signed on February 12, after negotiations in
the so-called "Normandy format" in the Belarusian capital Minsk,
bringing together Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois
Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro
Poroshenko. The talks lasted for around 14 hours. Simultaneously, a meeting of
the Contact Group on Ukrainian settlement was held in Minsk.
The Minsk accords also envisage ceasefire, prisoner
exchange, local elections in Donbas, constitutional reform in Ukraine and
establishing working sub-groups on security, political, economy and
humanitarian components of the Minsk accords.
The Ukrainian forces and the self-defense forces of the
self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics have repeatedly accused each
other of violating ceasefire and other points of the Minsk agreements.
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