Some quantum of peace was in the offing in eastern Ukraine when rebel forces in eastern Ukraine announced a unilateral withdrawal of weapons - less than 100mm caliber - from the line of engagement.
"Today, following the order from Igor Plotnitsky, the head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, we start a unilateral withdrawal of arms less than 100mm caliber from the line of engagement to a distance of at least 3km," Sergey Kozlov, the head of the Staff of the Lugansk People's Militia said as cited by LuganskInformCentre, according to Before It's News.
He added that "despite the complicated military and political situation in Ukraine," the Lugansk People's Republic is not going to use such an advantage and "provoke a new cycle of conflict. [We are] demonstrating the adherence to the Minsk agreements, [and] we are taking this step openly and unilaterally, hoping that as a result for the same will be done in response by the Ukrainian side."
The situation had escalated after the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists accused each other on July 19 of shelling residential areas in rebel-held Donetsk. That encounter with reports of heavy shelling - the first such attack on central districts of the city since a February cease-fire agreement - had killed one civilian, destroyed buildings and started several fires.
The authorities of the fellow self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) announced a similar move, adding that monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are witnessing the redeployment.
Eduard Basurin, DNR spokesperson, said that the militias withdrew more than 40 tanks and 80 infantry fighting vehicles on Sunday.
Kiev authorities, however, say they doubt that the rebels are actually pulling weapons back. "They say one thing and do the opposite," the Ukrainian presidential administration's spokesman for the military operation, Aleksander Motuzyanik, told RIA Novosti, reports RT.
"The only exception" for the unilateral smaller weaponry withdrawal for the Lugansk rebel forces, is in the region of the Schastie village, Vladislav Deinego who represented the anti-government forces at the Minsk talks, said on Saturday. He added that the "remaining machinery and weapons" could be pulled back from that area after the Ukrainian side follows suit in other areas.
The DNR's representative Denis Pushilin said that the Donetsk forces were waiting for a response from Kiev, adding that the actual launch of the withdrawal could begin following a statement from the government. The OSCE is expected to monitor the three-kilometer pullback zone, Pushilin added, mentioning that the organization had been notified of these intentions, according to Voice of Sevastopol.
