Ukraine’s military forces in the eastern Donbas couldn’t withdraw from their positions at Zolote and Petrivske on Oct. 7 because sustained shelling in the area from Russian-backed troops prevented them from doing so, Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said.
The mutual withdrawal of weapons by both Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces had been scheduled for Oct. 7 as part of the Minsk peace negotiations. According to Prystaiko, Ukrainian troops were ready to do so if the ceasefire continued for at least seven days, but it didn’t happen.
“Unfortunately… Petrivske and Zolote were shelled several days ago,” Prystaiko said during a joint briefing with his Latvian counterpart, Edgars Rinkevics, in Kyiv.
He added that the Ukrainian side would wait another seven days to see if the Russian-backed side is serious about the ceasefire and ready to conduct the arms withdrawal.
On Oct. 7, Ukraine’s Joint Forces reported about 25 violations of the ceasefire during the preceding 24 hours by Russian-backed troops. The violations included mortar shelling and small-arms fire at Zolote, the report stated.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) also reported explosions in the area of Zolote on Oct. 3 and Oct. 4.
Russia’s war against Ukraine in the Donbas has already claimed some 13,000 lives since it started in 2014, the United Nations estimates.
Though a peace deal was envisaged in 2015’s Minsk Protocal, the first-ever military disengagement in the Donbas war took place only this summer after a ceasefire lasted at Stanytsia Luhanska for a month. Ukraine’s soldiers withdrew one kilometer from their positions and disassembled their fortifications, but they claimed the Russian-backed troops failed to move far enough from the line of conflict.
Mostly government-controlled Zolote in Luhanska Oblast and non-government controlled Petrivske in Donetsk Oblast are set to be the next disengagement points.
Zolote residents living in areas planned for demilitarization told the Kyiv Post they are fearful Russian-backed fighters might come to their area after Ukrainian soldiers leave.
Prystaiko said during the Oct. 7 briefing that even if Ukrainian soldiers withdraw, they will keep their fortifications intact and return if militants from the Russian-backed side try to use the disengagement to their advantage.
“If we see that the other side doesn’t follow (the agreements) or, God forbid, they plan any aggressive actions, our armed forces will take back their positions,” he said.
