A senior pro-Russian rebel commander said separatist forces were due to begin withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line in east Ukraine yesterday, a sign rebels might be prepared to halt their advance as part of an internationally brokered peace deal.
Fighting has eased in many areas since a ceasefire came into effect a week ago, but the truce was shaken by the rebel capture on Wednesday of the town of Debaltseve, forcing a retreat by thousands of Ukrainian troops.
However, moves toward pulling back heavy weapons, together with the exchange of dozens of prisoners with Ukrainian government forces on Saturday, could indicate the rebels intend to observe the truce more fully, having achieved a key military objective by seizing Debaltseve.
Photo: Reuters
“The plan was signed last night... Starting from today there are two weeks to withdraw heavy weapons,” the Interfax news agency quoted rebel commander Eduard Basurin as saying.
Russian news agency TASS quoted him as saying the pull-back was still being organized and that the actual withdrawal of weapons would take place from tomorrow.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said by telephone that there was no confirmation yet as to whether the rebels had started pulling back their weapons.
A witness saw a 20-vehicle convoy of separatist military trucks with antiaircraft missile systems and howitzers leaving Debaltseve in the direction of Donetsk.
On Saturday, government forces and rebels exchanged nearly 200 prisoners, one of the first moves to implement the peace deal reached on Feb. 12 in the Belarussian capital Minsk after the French, German, Russian and Ukrainian leaders met.
Both sides continue to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.
The Ukrainian military said rebels had launched 12 attacks on government troop positions, using artillery and mortar fire.
The town of Pesky near Donetsk had seen the most intense fighting, while separatist groups had attempted to “storm” Ukrainian positions in Shyrokyne, east of the port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, the military said on Facebook.
Kiev accuses the separatists of building up forces and weapons in Ukraine’s southeast and has said it is braced for the possibility of a rebel attack on Mariupol.
The rebel press service DAN said Ukrainian troops had been shelling parts of Donetsk, reporting that artillery fire could be heard in the city at about 7:30am GMT yesterday.
Journalists in the town of Zholobok saw 139 Ukrainian soldiers traded for 52 separatist fighters late on Saturday, in rare compliance with the otherwise much-violated agreement which came into effect on Feb. 15.
Some of the released soldiers were wounded. A few had to walk on crutches for many kilometers through countryside scarred and cratered by months of fighting.
The Debaltseve assault and more than 250 ceasefire violations attributed to pro-Moscow fighters prompted a furious reaction from the US, which blames Russia for the 10-month conflict.
Russia denies the accusation.
“If this [ceasefire] failure continues, make no mistake, there will be further consequences, including consequences that will place added strains on Russia’s already troubled economy,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said during a press conference in London.
He said US President Barack Obama would “in the next few days” decide on “additional steps [that] will be taken in response to the breach of this ceasefire.”
He predicted “serious sanctions” could be imposed.
Germany and France, which brokered the Ukraine truce, admit they “don’t have any illusions” about the difficulty in getting the agreement to take hold, but say it is the only hope of calming the conflict enough to find a lasting solution.
The UN estimates 5,700 people have died in the conflict, and Kiev and the rebels continue to trade accusations of shelling, mortar rounds and rocket strikes targeting their positions.
Ukrainian defense officials say that Russia has deployed 20 tanks toward Mariupol and a dozen enemy drones have been shot down.
Additional reporting by AFP
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