MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. Several samples of firearms of western manufacture have been found at Donetsk’s ruined airport, the spokesman for the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Eduard Basurin, told a news briefing at the Donetsk News Agency.

"Samples of Western firearms have been unearthed during debris-clearing operations at the Donetsk Airport. Our specialists are now examining them," he said.

Heavy weapons withdrawal in eastern Ukraine

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has pulled out 17 artillery groups from the line of contact in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine, defence ministry’s spokesman went on to say.

"Howitzers were pulled out from our positions in Makeyevka and Illovaisk in the presence of the monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). We have already withdrawn 17 artillery groups," he said.

Basurin also said that by now the DPR had no reliable proof of Kiev’s withdrawing heavy weapons from the contact line.

Apart from that, he said the DPR militias had registered 19 violations of the Minsk agreements by Ukrainian troops in the past 24 hours. The DPR forces were not yielding to provocations, he stressed. "Violations have been reported to the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC)," he added.