Heavy weapons withdrawal initiated in Donbass, to be followed by prisoner exchange

RT
Sun, 22 Feb 2015 19:10 UTC

© Reuters / Gleb Garanich

Members of the Ukrainian armed forces ride a tank near Artemivsk, eastern Ukraine

Kiev's military and self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine have announced they will withdraw heavy weapons from the frontline following Saturday's exchange of 191 prisoners. This comes as OSCE monitors have visited the devastated city of Debaltsevo.

Ukrainian Army and Donbass forces have agreed to remove heavy weapons from the conflict zone, Eduard Basurin, deputy commander of the DPR's Defense Ministry's corps, said on Sunday.

"Today we've done preparatory work. Tomorrow is a holiday [Defender of the Fatherland Day], and starting from [February] 24 the process of heavy weapons pullout will begin," Basurin said, as cited by the Donetsk news agency.

Ukrainian General Aleksandr Rozmaznin told AFP: "The papers have been signed to begin withdrawing heavy weapons all along the frontline."

The process is set to be completed by March 7 under the terms of the truce.

Comment: The heavy weapons withdrawal was supposed to begin on February 17 and be completed by the 31st, according to the Minsk agreements. But given the week or so of extra fighting due to Debaltsevo, it's better late than never. Fortunately for Kiev, they won't have to withdraw all the heavy weapons they "strategically" left behind in Debaltsevo. The NAF is kindly taking care of that for them.

OSCE monitors are now waiting for the documented evidence of the pullout, such as inventory lists, routes and locations of concentration of the weapons. However, they won't observe the process itself.

"A special monitoring mission of the OSCE has been monitoring displacements of the heavy weapons for five months already," the head of the Ukrainian OSCE mission, Ertugrul Apakan said in a statement.

A monitoring mission has visited the city of Debaltsevo in the Donetsk region after the regular army left it. The footage released by the OSCE revealed scenes of devastation in the city, which has been the epicenter of fierce fighting between some 5,000 Kiev troops and militias.

Comment: The reasons the OSCE hasn't been in Debaltsevo until now is that the NAF could not guarantee their safety. Kiev troops were still actively shelling and breaking the ceasefire in order to break out of the cauldron. There's also this:

Kiev forces allegedly obstructed the OSCE mission's freedom of movement, after keeping the observers at one of the check points some 80 kilometers from Donetsk, RIA Novosti reported. Citing the mission's representatives, it was said that while at one of the check points the observers had to wait for a while to be let through, at the other security point they were denied entry by Ukrainian servicemen, due to lack of travel documents.

The standoff came to an end on February 18 after President Petro Poroshenko announced a troop withdrawal. However, Kiev had been unwilling to acknowledge being surrounded. Rebels and international media later reported the withdrawal resembled disorganized fleeing.

Debaltsevo stand-off contributed to the sporadic shelling that has been going on despite the truce, backed by the "Normandy Four". On February 12, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany rubber-stamped the long awaited peace deal in Minsk.

To end the conflict that has already taken some 5,600 lives, according to the latest UN estimates, they introduced measures, such as the ceasefire commenced February 15, a pullout of heavy weapons, and constitutional reform in Ukraine by the end of the year.

German Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier said Sunday that the conflict in eastern Ukraine may be showing signs of de-escalation following the prisoner exchange.

"There are early signs that it might at least be some de-escalation. Both sides have finally exchanged prisoners and are apparently willing to begin the withdrawal of heavy weapons, not everywhere, but at key points of the front—it's all part of the Minsk agreements," he told Germany's Bild newspaper.

He then urged Moscow to exert pressure on the rebel militias to cease all military activity.

Comment: Ukraine's security service negotiator is reporting 1,500 Ukrainian soldiers "missing in action", which no doubt means the number is much higher.

Tandit acknowledged that Donetsk rebels had provided wounded Ukrainian POWs with medical assistance, although they said those imprisoned by "field commanders" weren't properly treated.

Rebel forces commented on the issue, saying dead Ukrainian soldiers scattered in Debaltsevo could not be collected because Ukrainian troops and National Guards have been coached to rig corpses with explosives, so the bodies need to be "twitched off" to avoid mine traps. And nobody wants to be tasked with that.

To get an idea of the difference between the way DPR and LPR treat their POWs, and the way Kiev 'treats' them, just watch this (and this):