KYIV. March 4 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian armed forces are completing the withdrawal of 100-mm weapons from the line of contact in Donbas, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reports.
"In particular, actually all 100-mm caliber artillery, including Ruta and Rapira cannons, have been withdrawn from the line determined by the Minsk agreements," the ministry said on Tuesday.
The process is going in line with a control plan on coordination and implementation of the Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements signed at the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of a ceasefire and step-by-step stabilization of the line of contact.
"This document has been agreed upon with the people who took part in signing the Minsk agreements. According to this plan, both parties were supposed to withdraw their weapons simultaneously under the OSCE monitoring mission's supervision. The Ukrainian side is strictly adhering to these requirements and providing monitors with unimpeded access to the locations of the weapons withdrawn, which has been impossible to make the gunmen do," it said.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the enemy in the conflict zone in Donbas was continuing "to concentrate forces and resources in certain sectors and areas, considerably reinforcing their principal tactical strike units," it said.
"They are shelling the Ukrainian forward positions and launching tactical attacks," it said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak had said earlier that, if the gunmen failed to adhere to the peace plan, Ukraine would return its heavy weapons to the previous positions within a record-breaking period of time.
It was reported earlier that the Ukrainian antiterrorist operation forces had started the first phase of the withdrawal of their heavy weapons from the line of contact in Donbas, i.e. artillery systems along the entire line, to a distance of at least 25 kilometers, on February 26.
Clause one of the February 12 Minsk agreements stipulating the immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions took effect at midnight Kyiv time on February 15.
Clause 2 of the Package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements says: "The parties shall withdraw all heavy weapons to equal distances from each other with the purpose of setting up a security zone at least 50 kilometers in width for 100-mm caliber and larger artillery systems, a security zone at least 70 kilometers in width for [smaller] multiple rocket launchers, and 140 kilometers in width for Tornado-S, Uragan and Smerch multiple rocket launchers and Tochka (Tochka-U) tactical missile systems. The Ukrainian government forces shall withdraw these weapons from the de facto contact line and the armed formations acting in certain districts in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine from the contact line determined by the Minsk Memorandum of September 19, 2014."