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Troop pullback begins near Petrivske
Journal Staff Report

KYIV, Nov. 9 - Ukraine's army and Kremlin-backed separatists on Saturday started the last phase of a troop pullback in the war-torn east in a key step towards a high-stakes summit with Russia.

The long-awaited move is a precondition for the first face-to-face talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy, AFP reported.

The summit, whose date has yet to be set, will be mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The withdrawal began in the Donetsk region between the villages of Petrivske in the separatist-controlled zone and Bogdanivka in Kyiv-controlled territory, according to Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Ageyev.

But in a sign of persisting tensions, a Kyiv soldier was killed Thursday in the Donetsk region although not in the disengagement area, the army said.

The warring sides held two similar pullbacks in June and October.

"From our side, everything is progressively managed. Of course, terrorists are trying to disrupt the process. But we are doing everything according to our plan,” Defense Minister Andriy Zahorodniuk said in an interview with 1+1 television on Sunday. “We have 7 days of silence, we are doing the withdrawal according to our plans, it’s a controlled scenario."

The withdrawal of forces would be the "final precondition" for organizing the four-way summit, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said this week.

He has expressed hope that the meeting, the first at such a high level since 2016, could take place in Paris in November.

The summit has been repeatedly postponed as previous attempts to organize pullbacks of troops have failed, most recently on Monday.

Russia has said it backs a new summit but refused to commit to a timetable.

"We want to hold the summit as soon as possible, but at the same time we consider this summit has to be well organised to ensure it gets the necessary results," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

He added it was "too early to say" whether the meeting could take place this year because "many questions" remained unresolved.

The troop pullbacks are one of the Kremlin's conditions to stage a summit that Kyiv hopes could restart the stalled peace process. (afp/tl/ez)




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