Donetsk, Feb 21 – DAN. The withdrawal of hardware from the contact line might take place later today, DPR Operations Command said on Tuesday.
“Ukrainian side in the person of General Petrenko (head of the Ukrainian delegation at the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination) confirmed the readiness for disengagement, to be monitored by the OSCE. We, too, are ready. Mutual withdrawal can begin in the evening following a video conference between the parties concerned,” a DPR Operations Command representative said.
Monday reports said the pullback of forces and hardware might take place on 21 February morning, but DPR had to wait for the OSCE to confirm that Kev was ready for disengagement.
Earlier, DPR Head Alexander Zakharchenko said at a meeting with LPR Head Igor Plotnitskiy and OSCE SMM Principal Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug in Lugansk that unilateral disengagement in Donbass was not possible and that the OSCE had to ensure mutual withdrawal of the conflicting parties’ forces and hardware. *jk