Luhansk, Kiev Sign Heavy Weaponry Withdrawal Plan

Sputnik News

16:09 20.02.2015(updated 17:10 20.02.2015)

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic is expected to sign a heavy weaponry withdrawal plan later in the day.

DONETSK (Sputnik) – The self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic has signed a heavy weaponry withdrawal plan with Kiev, a Russian representative at the joint ceasefire control and coordination center said Friday.

"Today the plan was signed by Luhansk head Igor Plotnitsky and a representative of the Ukrainian armed forces at the control and coordination center Maj. Gen. [Oleksandr] Rozmaznyn," Lt. Gen. Alexander Lentsov was quoted as saying by the LuhanskInformCenter.

Another self-proclaimed eastern Ukrainian republic, the Donetsk People's Republic, is expected to sign it later in the day.

The pullout of Kiev's and Donbas militia's heavy weaponry from the contact line is one of the measures agreed upon by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany at the February 12 meeting in Minsk.

According to the new Minsk agreements, the withdrawal must start no later than the second day after the beginning of the ceasefire and be completed in a 14-days period.

The ceasefire in Donbas entered into force on February 15, and, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is currently generally holding.

On Thursday, a senior military commander in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Eduard Basurin stated that DPR had already withdrawn a total of eight 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled guns, six D-30 Howitzers and six Grad multiple-launch rocket systems from the line of contact with Kiev forces.

Earlier on Friday, deputy chief monitor of OSCE's monitoring mission to Ukraine Alexander Hug told SNA Radio that the prospects for the pullout of heavy artillery in Donbas were good and the sides were working on the withdrawal plans.

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