GOVERNMENT troops and pro-Russian rebels have begun withdrawing heavy artillery in the east of Ukraine.
The move is a significant step towards implementing an effective ceasefire in the region.
Colonel Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, said Kiev's forces had started withdrawing from frontline positions.
He said the rebels had also begun their withdrawal of heavy artillery, although it was "not as massive as we expected".
Col Lysenko said: "We are seeing a trend that (the rebels) are reducing their use of heavy armed weaponry." He added that neither Kiev nor the rebels had completed their withdrawals, but said he hoped the rebels "will follow the example of the Ukrainian servicemen". A ceasefire imposed on September 5 has been riddled by violations from the start, adding civilian casualties to the estimated 3,000 people who have been killed since the conflict began in April.
Smoke rose over a neighbourhood in the north of the rebel-held city of Donetsk yesterday, where fighting in recent weeks centred on a government-held airport has caught many residential areas in the crossfire. Col Lysenko said two Ukrainian servicemen had been killed in the past day.
Last week, an agreement was signed to further the peace process, calling for both sides to halt advances and pull back heavy artillery, creating a buffer zone between them.
The deal was reached in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Saturday by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the Moscow-backed rebels and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Under the agreement, each party must pull back artillery of four inches or larger at least nine miles, setting up a buffer zone that would be 19 miles wide. Longer-range artillery systems are to be pulled even farther back to make sure the parties can not reach one another. The agreement also bans flights by combat aircraft over the area of conflict.
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