Rebels claim heavy weapons pull-back in Ukraine

A senior rebel commander said on Tuesday that the pro-Russia separatists had begun pulling back the weapons, as required under a ceasefire brokered by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Minsk earlier this month.

"Today at nine in the morning (0600 GMT) the planned withdrawal of heavy equipment started," rebel commander Eduard Basurin told the Reuters news agency.

"We're pulling it back 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the boundary line ... Of course we won't say exactly where we're pulling it back to."

The Minsk peace plan that was signed on February 15 requires both sides to withdraw their heavy weapons to between 25 and 70 kilometers from the front line, depending on their caliber.

There was no immediate comment on the rebels' claim from the Ukrainian military, but army officials had previously said they did not intend to pull back their heavy weapons until the ceasefire was completely implemented. News agencies on Tuesday quoted two different Ukrainian military spokesmen who claimed that the rebels had launched attacks on government positions near the strategic port city of Mariupol over the past 24 hours. This was denied by Basurin, who complained of "provocations" from the government side.

Fears over Mariupol

Kyiv and its Western backers fear the rebels could seek to take Mariupol, as this would help them to establish a land corridor between the Russian mainland and Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed almost a year ago.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is charged with monitoring the ceasefire, said that it could not verify any weapons withdrawal in the conflict zone or the Ukrainian claims of ongoing shooting until its observers filed their reports at the end of the day.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia were to hold more talks on Tuesday aimed at rescuing the shaky Minsk agreement.

pfd/rc (AFP, Reuters, AP)