Ukrainian Armed Forces begin withdrawing tanks, mortars and artillery in Donetsk region – ATO HQ

Ukraine's Armed Forces began withdrawing tanks, artillery weapons and mortars from the contact line in the Donetsk region on Tuesday morning, Armed Forces General Staff spokesman Leonid Matiukhin said via a video link from Kramatorsk.

"Today will see the start of the implementation of the second stage of the pullback of tanks, artillery cannons with caliber less than 100mm and mortars under 120mm. As was planned, the weapons will be removed to a distance of at least 15 kilometers from the actual line of contact. The pullback has already begun. At the moment, it is taking place in the Debaltseve area," he told a press briefing on Tuesday morning.

Vladyslav Selezniov, another spokesman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff, told Interfax earlier on Tuesday that Ukraine's Armed Forces were ready to begin withdrawing tanks and artillery weapons under 100mm in the Donetsk region and were only awaiting information from the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that it was prepared to monitor the process.