MAKIYIVKA, Ukraine - In his green camouflage jacket, 32-year-old Denys Bastrykin, a former miner turned separatist fighter, points his empty Kalashnikov to a military convoy that passes by on the streets in Makiyivka, a city just east of Donetsk. "How much more evidence would you need to see that we are withdrawing our weapons?" he shouted, lighting up his cigarette as he waved to some of his fellow comrades driving the military vehicles.
“We are not terrorists like
they think in Kyiv. We comply with all agreements,” said Bastrykin, referring
to the second Minsk agreement in February that required the withdrawal of troops and weaponry from the frontline.
The movement that has taken place, however,
doesn’t back up the Kremlin-backed separatists’ claim that the process of
actively withdrawing heavy artillery from the demarcation line has started. The
special monitoring mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was unable to fully verify that as well.
According to separatist
officials, the process of pulling back heavy weapons has already begun days
earlier. Then, the OSCE was not able to monitor the withdrawal.
On Feb. 27, the
self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic’s Defense Ministry invited the OSCE
to monitor the withdrawal of heavy weapons in the separatist-controlled
front line village of Yelenovka, just south of Donetsk.
In other parts of the
separatist-controlled territory there were also claimed withdrawals, though the
OSCE was not invited to monitor those activities as well.
According to the Ukrainian
Defense Ministry, in the last 24 hours three Ukrainian servicemen were killed by Kremlin-backed separatists, suggesting that the claims of the Kremlin-backed authorities are false, and that heavy weapons are still being used to fire on
Ukrainian positions.
“It is a mistake to think
that we are attacking Ukrainian positions. We are only using defensive
attacks,” Bastrykin explained. “We were the first in
withdrawing our heavy weapons, and now we are blamed for using heavy weapons
and killing Ukrainian soldiers. As soon as we wanted to separate from Ukraine
we were classified as terrorists and blamed for everything,” he added, leaning
on a bench for a moment of silence to finish his cigarette.
The military convoy as seen
by the Kyiv Post in Makiyivka consisted of two trucks carrying Grad rocket
launchers plus one truck transporting howitzers. The convoy headed to an
eastern direction at least 70 kilometers away from the demarcation line as
agreed in the second Minsk agreement.
The pullback of these heavy
weapons, however, represents just a fraction of the firepower believed to be at
the Russia backed separatists disposal.
In an interview with the Wall
Street Journalm Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE in Ukraine said
that the OSCE has not observed withdrawal as outlined in the Minsk agreement.
“This is movement at the moment, not actual withdrawal. Not only do we need to
see they move somewhere, but we need to know that they are out and remain out,”
he told the Wall Street Journal about the withdrawal of separatist artillery.
Whereas the OSCE might not
have had fully access to monitor the withdrawal of the heavy weapons in the
separatist-controlled territory, the self-proclaimed authorities there did
invite press journalists to witness the withdrawal.
As the Kyiv Post noticed as
well, the artillery convoy only moved to an eastern direction. This does not
constitute a full withdrawal.
According to Bastrykin not
all artillery can actually be withdrawn because of the Ukrainian army allegedly
still shelling separatist-controlled territory. “If we withdraw all our heavy
weapons there will be a new phase in this war,” he explained.
According to the self-proclaimed
Donetsk People’s Republic press center, though, more artillery will be
withdrawn the following days. “We will continue to withdraw heavy weapons as
long as the Ukrainian army is doing the same. We have the right to defend
ourselves if Ukraine isn’t pulling back,” the spokeswoman told the Kyiv Post.
In the early evening of Feb.
27, the Kyiv Post could still hear outgoing artillery in the northern outskirts
of Donetsk where the airport is located. There, fighting still rages on despite
promises to withdraw heavy weapons.
Stefan Huijboom is a Dutch journalist working in Ukraine.
