REUTERS

This was announced by press secretary of the Anti-Terrorist Operation's Staff Andriy Lysenko, Novosti Donbasa reported.

"The third phase of the withdrawal of heavy military equipment by the Armed Forces of Ukraine is under way. At the moment, 100mm caliber MT-12 Rapira and MT-12R Ruta anti-tank guns, 152mm caliber Akatsiya (Acacia) self-propelled artillery systems and Grad multiple rocket launcher systems have been pulled out," Lysenko said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on February 12, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande held talks in Minsk to resolve the conflict in the Donbas.

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Following the talks, the parties approved a package of measures aimed at the implementation of the Minsk agreements of September. In addition, the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and the Russian Federation adopted a declaration in support of these measures.

In addition to other provisions of the new agreements reached by the "Normandy Four" leaders on Thursday, February 12, the parties agreed on the withdrawal of all heavy weapons by both parties at equal distances in order to create at least a 50 kilometer security zone for 100mm or larger caliber artillery systems, a 70 kilometer security zone for Grad multiple rocket launcher systems and a 140 kilometer security zone for the Tornado-S, Uragan, and Smerch multiple rocket launcher systems and Tochka (Tochka-U) tactical missile systems:

- for the Ukrainian troops: [withdrawal] from the actual contact line;

- for the military units of individual areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine: [withdrawal] from the contact line in accordance with the Minsk memorandum of September 19, 2014.