Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday said Kiev is pulling back its military troops from the contested town of Debaltseve in Donetsk region.
Poroshenko told newsmen at the Boryspil International Airport before his departure to the restive frontline town.
“The Ukrainian armed forces together with the National Guard are completing an operation to withdraw their troops from Debaltseve,’’ he said.
He said that about 80 per cent of Ukrainian military units have withdrawn from Debaltseve, a regional strategic transport hub that was reportedly under siege by pro-independence rebels.
“The withdrawal is under way in a `planned and organized way.
“Debaltseve was under our control, and there was no besiegement.
“Ukrainian soldiers left the town with weaponry, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other military equipment,’’ Poroshenko said, emphasising that the Ukrainian forces were not encircled by the rebels.
The fighting in Debaltseve has been raging over the past days in spite of the ceasefire agreement reached on Thursday between the government troops and the rebel forces.
Insurgents claimed that the truce, reached in Minsk, capital of Belarus, does not apply to Debaltseve, as rebel leadership considered the town as “an internal territory’’ of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.