The Ukrainian Army and Moscow-backed separatists on Tuesday said that they had begun to withdraw troops from a key area in the war-torn east ahead of a high-stakes summit with Russia.
The long-awaited pullback is a precondition for the first face-to-face talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to be mediated by the leaders of France and Germany.
“The process of troop withdrawal began by both sides ... in the area of Zolote-4” in the Lugansk region, the Ukrainian Army said on Facebook.
Monitors from Europe’s Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) confirmed the move.
“Today the sides have just resumed the withdrawal of troops and arms in Zolote,” OSCE special representative Martin Sajdik told reporters.
“I think that we did a lot to bring about the Normandy [Summit],” Zelenskiy told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, referring to the name given to the internationally mediated talks.
The rival forces also need to withdraw troops from the village of Petrivske in the Donetsk region for the summit to go ahead.
Since coming to power in May, Zelenskiy has sought to revive a peace process to end a five-year-old separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed about 13,000 lives.
However, those efforts have stalled as Kiev’s forces and the separatists have repeatedly failed to pull back troops from the frontline because of exchanges of gunfire.
Zelenskiy’s peace plan, including the troop pullback, has been strongly criticized by many in Kiev, especially war veterans and nationalists.
About 300 Ukrainians heeded the calls of veterans and nationalists to protest outside the presidential office against the withdrawal of troops, chanting: “No surrender.”
Last week, Zelenskiy personally traveled to Zolote in an effort to persuade his nationalist critics not to stand in the way of the peace process.
“We have to look for ways and work to end the war,” he said on Saturday during his trip to the village.
“There will be no surrender in any case... I am sure that we will succeed and that Ukraine will be united again,” he said.
Critics say Zelenskiy’s proposal favors Russia, but the Ukrainian president has pledged not to betray his country’s interests.
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