VIENNA, July 20. /TASS/. Observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission say in their daily report on Monday that they witnessed the pullback of two columns of weapons of under 100mm caliber from the line of contact in the troubled Donbas region.
The report said: "The SMM was invited on 19 July by the Russian Federation Lieutenant-General, head of the Russian Federation side to the JCCC, to observe what he described as the withdrawal of "DPR" MBTs and weapons under-100mm calibre from the contact line".
"The SMM, along with media representatives, first followed the Russian Federation JCCC and "DPR" delegation to Lozove ("DPR"-controlled, 13km west of Donetsk city), where it observed a column of three MBTs (T-64) move approximately 1.28km south-east and into a forest near the town," the report said.
"Then around Novolapsa ("DPR"-controlled, 47km south of Donetsk), the SMM observed four BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles drive east approximately 4.3km and park in a forest — with the journalists filming the event with the use of a camera drone," it continued.
Possible withdrawal of such weapons had been discussed at Minsk talks on a settlement in Donbas but no agreement on the matter was reached with Kiev. The two republics have decided on unilateral withdrawal in the interests of a speedy peace settlement.
Ukrainian army withdraws heavy weapons from previous holding areas
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine has inspected heavy weapon holding areas to discover that some of them have been abandoned and not all previously recorded weapons was in situ as some of them, the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine said in its annual report.
"On 18 July, the SMM revisited 11 Ukrainian Armed Forces heavy weapon holding areas. While their locations comply with Minsk withdrawal lines, at four of the sites the SMM was not able to conclude that all previously recorded weapons were in situ. At one site, the SMM observed that four multiple launcher rocket systems (MLRS) (BM-21 Grad, 122mm) were missing and that the site had been abandoned. At a second site, the SMM observed three MLRS (BM-21 Grad, 122mm) were missing. The SMM found a third site abandoned, and with none of the six previously recorded self-propelled howitzers (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm) in situ. At a fourth site the SMM observed that two of 10 previously recorded self-propelled artillery guns (2S3 Akatsiya, 152mm) were missing," the SMM report said.
"On 19 July, the SMM revisited two "DPR" heavy weapon holding areas," the report went on to say.
"At one site, the SMM was denied access to confirm the serial numbers on six towed antitank guns… At the other site, the SMM observed that one self-propelled howitzer (2S1 Gvozdika, 122mm) was missing," the SMM said.