The OSCE monitors
have not discovered 30 percent of heavy weapons, withdrawn from the line of
contact in Ukraine's southeast by both sides of the conflict, Alexander Hug,
the principal deputy chief monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to
Ukraine, said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Kiev and the Donbass militias reached a deal to withdraw arms of a caliber of less than 100mm from the line of contact in late September 2015. On November 12, 2015, the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in the country’s southeast have submitted documents verifying the completion of the weapons withdrawal.
"We are watching a disturbing trend: 30 percent of the heavy weapons that were withdrawn from the contact line, have disappeared from the storage facilities both from the Ukrainian and separatists' side," Hug told the Spiegel Online Saturday.
In April 2014, Kiev launched a military operation against pro-independence supporters in eastern Ukraine. In February, the sides to the conflict developed a set of measures on Ukrainian reconciliation, including a ceasefire and a weapons withdrawal from the contact line. However, the ceasefire only began to hold on September 1, 2015. Despite the fact that the agreement was reached a year ago, both sides have been repeatedly reporting violations of the deal.
According to Hug, the OSCE monitors have detected that during violations of the ceasefire, the use of multiple launch rocket systems, tanks and howitzers has increased.
Source: Sputnik News 20-03-2016
