KIEV, Ukraine — Warring parties in Ukraine took a major stride toward quelling unrest in the country’s east Thursday with the declared start of a supervised withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line.
Ukrainian and separatist officials have noted a sharp decline in violence, although the chances of a long-lasting settlement remain clouded by lingering suspicions.
While announcing the pullback, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry warned that it would revise arms-withdrawal plans in the event of any attacks.
“Ukrainian troops are in state of total readiness to defend the country,” it said in a statement.
The pullback was supposed to have started more than a week ago under a peace deal agreed upon this month by the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine that has killed nearly 5,800 people since April.
The intensity of fighting has declined notably in recent days, despite daily charges by both sides that the other is violating the Feb. 15 cease-fire.
Rebels in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions insist they have spent the past few days drawing back their heavy weapons — a claim not yet verified by independent observers. Donetsk separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko mirrored Ukrainian willingness to immediately resort to combat if provoked.
“Military equipment will be returned to their positions. Any attacks on our cities and villages will be nipped in the bud,” he said.
The press office for Ukrainian military operations in the east said in a statement that government forces Thursday started moving 100mm anti-tank guns back to the 16-mile minimum stipulated by the peace deal. Journalists in the southeastern government-held port city of Mariupol on Thursday saw weapons matching that description heading away from the front.
In Olenivka, a town south of the rebel-held stronghold of Donetsk, rebel forces moved at least six 120mm self-propelled howitzers from the front line near Olenivka.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has hundreds of monitors in the region, has not yet reported on the progress of the withdrawal.
