Ukraine troops to begin pulling back heavy weaponry

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Raw: Protest against Kiev uprising Thousands of protesters gathered in central Moscow on Saturday to demonstrate against what they describe as a "fascist coup" one year ago in neighboring Ukraine. (Feb. 21)

Ukraine plans to begin pulling back heavy weaponry from the front lines of eastern Ukraine on Sunday, a military spokesman said.

The spokesman, Col. Andriy Lysenko, told a briefing that the withdrawal was to begin, but did not give further details.

Meanwhile, two people were killed and about a dozen injured in a bomb explosion at a march Sunday in the eastern city of Kharkiv — Ukraine's second-largest city — that was commemorating the first anniversary of the removal from power of president Viktor Yanukovych, the country's interior ministry said.

The Ukrainian parliament voted Feb. 22, 2014, to remove the Russia-friendly president, following months of increasingly violent protests in the capital, Kiev.

The Interior Ministry said the blast was due to an "unknown explosive device" and was considered a terrorist act.

A spokesman for the national security service, Markian Lubkivskiy, said four suspects were arrested for the explosion and for planning other attacks. He said the suspects were detained while carrying a portable rocket launcher in their automobile, and they appeared to acting under instructions from Russia.

"We can clearly see that the launcher was received from the (Russian city of) Belgorod. Instructions were received from the Russian Federation," he said in broadcast remarks.

Lubkivskiy did not specify if he was accusing private individuals in Russia or the government in Moscow.

The move to pull back weapons is in accordance with an agreement brokered Feb. 12 in Minsk, Belarus, whose initial step was a cease-fire between government forces and Russia-backed separatists, coming into effect Feb. 15. But fighting has continued.

Rebel spokesman Eduard Basurin said the pullback from both sides is to take place between Sunday and March 7, but he did not specify whether rebels had made any moves yet. There was no immediate confirmation that the withdrawal had begun.

Both sides are to pull back their big guns and rockets from 15 to 43 miles away from the conflict line — depending on the weapons' size — creating a buffer zone of 31 to 87 miles.

The agreement also calls for a full exchange of prisoners. Late Saturday, 139 Ukrainian soldiers and 52 rebels were exchanged but it remains unclear how many captives are on each side and when other swaps might take place.

The Reuters news agency said its reporters saw more than 130 Ukrainian servicemen being released in the village of Zholobok, 12 miles west of the separatist stronghold of Luhansk, late Saturday.

Ukraine said Russia-backed separatists violated the cease-fire a dozen times during the night with artillery and rocket attacks and an attempt to storm a Ukrainian encampment. Lysenko said one serviceman was killed and three wounded over the past day.

Among the attacks reported by the Ukrainian military was an attempt to storm positions in the village of Shyrokyne near the port city of Mariupol. That city remains of strategic concern to Ukraine because rebel seizure of it could help establish a land corridor between mainland Russia and the Russia-annexed Crimean peninsula.

Contributing: Associated Press. USA TODAY editorial partner GlobalPost is launching a Kickstarter campaign to expand its coverage of the world's war zones. To see more or contribute, click here.