The office of the chief Ukrainian representative in the Contact Group confirmed that a Ukrainian initiative for the mutual withdrawal of tanks from the frontline was raised during a Skype conference on Wednesday between the Contact Group and representatives of some districts in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts.
The purpose of the initiative is to launch “a sustained and synchronized process,” Darya Olifer, spokeswoman for ex-president Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s representative in the Contact Group, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“This matter is being discussed with all interested parties. It should be noted that it is a Ukrainian initiative, it follows up on and supplements the Minsk agreements reached on Feb. 12,” she said.
During a visit to Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 26, President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine stood ready to withdraw its tanks from the frontline.
“Today the situation is essentially different from what had been in place before the 15th [Feb. 15, the day the ceasefire took effect; the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontline began on Feb. 24]. At that time we didn’t even take any account of small-arms attacks. Today we take everything into account. Today we can say that more than half of those attacks are small-arms fire, the rest are mortar attacks,” Poroshenko said.
