Not all heavy armaments pulled back from disengagement line in Donbass — OSCE

Not all heavy armaments have been withdrawn from the disengagement line in east Ukraine, Deputy Chief Monitor of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine Alexander Hug said Thursday.

Hug told a briefing that explosions registered by SMM monitors were caused by heavy armaments’ fire. He added that the ceasefire regime in the area of Kiev’s military operation is very unstable.

The SMM deputy chief monitor said that last Sunday, 250 cases of ceasefire violations were registered near Donetsk Airport. On November 18, he said, 107 explosions occurred for the period of 19 minutes; these figures show not all armaments were withdrawn from the security zone.

Hug also called on the sides to “stick to commitments on armaments pullback.”
He said he is asking both sides to respect commitments taken in February – withdraw all heavy armaments from the disengagement line. The official also underscored the sides should allow the SMM to register and verify the withdrawn armaments, as well as provide the list of withdrawn armaments.

In line with the Package of Measures on implementation of the Minsk Agreements of February 12, artillery systems with calibers of 100 millimeters and more should be withdrawn from each other by 50 kilometers, multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) by 70 km, Tornado, Uragan, Smerch MLRS and Tochka missiles by 140 km.

In line with the September supplement to the Package of Measures, guns with calibers up to 100 mm, tanks, mortars, including with 120-mm caliber, were to be pulled back by November 12.

The Package (Minsk-2) was signed on February 12, 2015 in the Belarusian capital Minsk by participants of the Contact Group on settlement in Donbass.

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