Kiev, pro-Russia forces in Ukraine agree on heavy arms pullback
The Ukrainian military and pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine have reached an accord to complete the withdrawal of heavy weapons from front lines following a round of peace talks in Berlin, the German foreign minister says.
“We’ve agreed… to tackle the pullback of heavy weaponry now,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier said following the negotiations on Friday.
The foreign ministers of Russia, France and Ukraine also attended the talks. The pro-Russia forces in eastern Ukraine had not sent a representative to the talks, which were held in Berlin.
Steinmeier said it was encouraging that the truce between the warring sides had been honored now without being violated for 10 weeks – the longest period of calm since a peace accord was originally signed in September 2014. However, the pro-Russians accused government troops on Friday of shelling residential regions under their control with heavy weaponry.
Local media reports from the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk alleged that Ukrainian forces launched multiple Grad rockets into the northern parts of the restive region on Thursday and Friday.
Ukrainian authorities, in turn, blamed the pro-Russia forces of violating the Minsk ceasefire agreement.
Steinmeier, who has been involved in mediating in the conflict along with his French counterpart, added that the two sides also needed to resolve the issue over who can run for office in planned local elections as well as who would monitor the election process.
Meanwhile, the French Foreign Ministry also announced in a statement from Paris that there had been progress on several issues in the Berlin talks, including security in eastern Ukraine, the political aspects of the Minsk accord and the economic and humanitarian situation.
Over 8,000 people have perished in the fighting between Ukrainian troops and the pro-Russia forces in Ukraine’s eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk since April 2014.
Tensions have drastically decreased since the signing of a new truce agreement in Minsk back in February, more so in recent weeks.
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