Interfax: Ukrainian army claims to have only heavy infantry arms left on frontline

KYIV. March 10 (Interfax) – The Ukrainian army is threatening to bring back all artillery guns withdrawn earlier if the militia mounts an offense on its positions.

“Our frontline units still have heavy infantry weapons which can stop an offensive of heavy armaments so that they are not endangered. If the militia moves forward, all the artillery guns will be brought back to the frontline,” spokesman for the army operation Andriy Lysenko said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

In his words, the enemy is only simulating the pullout of its weapons.

“In fact, they are relocating their hardware, coaching their soldiers, regrouping, and forming a main attack force,” Lysenko said.

Eduard Basurin of the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, claimed on Monday that Ukraine had not been fulfilling the arms pullback arrangement to a sufficient degree.

“We continue receiving alarming intelligence about Ukrainian forces’ buildup in the safety zone,” Basurin said at a press conference on Monday.

He also said that Ukrainian weapons were not being removed to the agreed distance and remained on positions which make their return to the contact line possible within hours.

“The weapons removed are located at a distance of 20-30 kilometers from the actual contact line and can be easily moved back to position within a couple of hours,” he said.

More than 200 Ukrainian armored vehicles, nine Uragan rocket systems and six 122-millimeter and 152-millimeter artillery pieces are concentrated near Artemivsk, and over 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen from the 54th separate motorized infantry brigade are located in the city, he said.

“Grad and Uragan multiple rocket launchers have been spotted near the populated areas of Svobodne, Pryazovske, Zorya and Pokrovske. All of them are located within 30 kilometers from the zero kilometer [line],” Basurin said.

“Ukraine has knowingly denied access to its territory to four groups of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe observers over the past three days,” he claimed.