MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - Both conflicting sides in Ukraine have been observing the Minsk agreements, for instance, they have been withdrawing heavy armaments from the frontline, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (OSCE SMM) Alexander Hug said.
The OSCE "welcomes that both sides are now indicating that they are taking steps to comply with these responsibilities," he said in an interview with the RT television channel.
"The OSCE requires…not only the starting point where the hardware is located; it also requires the routes and most importantly the storage places the hardware will go to in the end," Hug said.
While commenting on the additional demands posed by the OSCE, Hug stated: "We are not putting up demands, the demands are clear. What we are tasked by the Minsk arrangement and by our mandate is to go out and monitor what the parties do."
Eduard Basurin of the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), said earlier that the militia started to withdraw its weapons at 10 a.m. on Thursday in the presence of OSCE monitors. He added that five OSCE teams were operating on the ground.
Kyiv also reported beginning the withdrawal of heavy armaments from the Debaltseve area in the Donetsk region and the Donetsk airport amongst other locations on Thursday. Deputy head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's department in the Donetsk region Ilya Kyva said that the withdrawal would continue along the entire line of contact if the militia honored their commitments.