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Ukraine's unrecognized Donetsk republic to begin weapons withdrawal on Sunday

The Kiev forces shelled the Veseloye village and the Kiev district of Donetsk on October 10 using 120mm mortars

MOSCOW, October 14. /TASS/. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic is due to start withdrawing weapons with the caliber under 100mm on October 18, DPR’s defense ministry spokesman Eduard Basurin said on Wednesday.

"In line with the reached agreements, the DPR army will begin withdrawing the above mentioned weapons on October 18," the Donetsk news agency quoted Basurin as saying.

"We are fully ready for this," he said, stressing that the main condition for the weapons withdrawal is "strict compliance with the ceasefire regime and implementation of the agreed schedule of weapons withdrawal."

Basurin told reporters that the Kiev forces shelled the Veseloye village and the Kiev district of Donetsk on October 10 using 120mm mortars. One DPR serviceman was killed and two others were seriously injured. A nine-storey residential house was burnt.

The DPR called to hold the meeting of a four-party working group to investigate the case. The Ukrainian side ignored the initiative for the meeting involving the representatives of Russia and Ukraine in the joint ceasefire control center and the representatives of the OSCE special monitoring mission, he said.

Basurin has called on the OSCE "to use the necessary pressure on the Ukrainian side to investigate objectively and unbiasedly all the violations of the Minsk agreements on ceasefire and weapons withdrawal for restoring peaceful life as soon as possible.".