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OSCE mission in Ukraine confirms completion of disengagement in Petrovskoye

The disengagement of forces near the settlement of Petrovskoye began on Saturday

© Valentin Sprinchak/TASS

VIENNA, November 14. /TASS/. The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has confirmed that the forces were disengaged in Petrovskoye in Donbass, the OSCE said in a press release on Wednesday.

"On 12 November, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) received a letter from the armed formations in non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk region, notifying that they had completed the withdrawal of forces and hardware in the agreed disengagement area near Petrivske [Petrovskoye - TASS]," the SMM said in a spot report.

"On 13 November, the SMM received two Notes Verbales from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, one notifying that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had completed the withdrawal of forces and hardware in the agreed disengagement area near Petrivske," it said.

The parties to the conflict notified the OSCE about their "readiness to begin the removal of fortifications and other installations of military value from the disengagement area, together with baseline information and geographical co-ordinates."

The disengagement of forces near the settlement of Petrovskoye began on Saturday. On Tuesday, November 12, the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission confirmed the pullback of forces near Petrovskoye - the last of the three previously agreed pilot areas in Donbass.

The pullback of forces near Petrovskoye finalized the process of creating three security zones along the disengagement line: near Zolotoye, Petrovskoye and Stanitsa Luganskaya. The agreement to create them was achieved by Ukraine and the Donetsk and Lugansk republics back in September 2016. Disengagement in the former two had been completed promptly, but the Ukrainian forces returned there soon. Disengagement resumed in the summer of 2019. The conflicting parties pulled back their forces near Stanitsa Luganskaya on June 30 and near Zolotoye in early November.

The disengagement of forces in Donbass is one of the conditions for a summit meeting of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine) Kiev has repeatedly called for lately.

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