Ukrainian forces return heavy armament to the contact line in Donbass — DPR defense ministry

The  Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) intelligence registered the return of 10 units of heavy weaponry to the contact line in Donbas, DPR defense ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin said on Monday.

“Four D-30 howitzers were spotted near the Lghanskoye settlement in Donetsk’s suburbs, and two Grad multiple rocket launcher systems were seen in Dzerzhinsk [to the north-west of Gorlovka].Four self-propelled artillery systems were also spotted near the Novgorodskoye settlement [in Gorlovka’s west],” Donetsk News Agency quoted Basurin as saying.

Three T-64 tanks were also spotted by intelligence as they arrived to Krasnogorovka located 10 kilometers from the contact line in Donbas, he added.

The supplement to the Package of measures on implementing the Minsk Agreements from 12 February 2015 was agreed upon on September 29 at the negotiations of the Contact Group in Minsk. The supplement envisages withdrawal of tanks, artillery weapons of less than 100mm caliber, and mortars of equal to or less than 120mm caliber to a distance of 15 kilometers from the contact line in Donbas.

The process of withdrawal that started on October 3 and is expected to be completed in 41 days is monitored by representatives of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC). They send reports on the withdrawal progress to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission (SMM).