Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ukraine plans to move more weapons
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian troops will begin a weapons pullback in a second location in war-torn eastern Ukraine next week if a cease-fire there persists, the country’s leader said Thursday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke in Kyiv, the capital, at the end of talks with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who reaffirmed NATO’s support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia-backed separatists in the east. Stoltenberg arrived at the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa on Wednesday where he toured four NATO vessels that had stopped by during their patrols.
Stoltenberg’s visit comes just days after Ukraine and the separatists began pulling back weaponry from one front line in the east. The disengagement in two locations is seen as the final hurdle before much-anticipated peace talks between the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany that aim to finally end the deadly conflict.
The weaponry move began Tuesday after Zelenskiy, who won office in April on a pledge to end the war, visited the area around the eastern village of Zolote and confronted armed veterans who went there to try to hamper the weapons pullback. Zelenskiy told reporters Thursday that Ukraine will start to move weapons at the second location, Petrovske, on Monday if a cease-fire persists.
The armed conflict has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014 and left large areas, including two regional capitals, in the hands of separatist rebels. It began after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.