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 Fighting has eased in eastern Ukraine in recent days, raising hope
that a ceasefire due to start on Feb. 15 can finally take effect
after the rebels initially ignored it to storm a government-held
town last week.
Since taking the railway hub of Debaltseve in one of the worst
defeats for Kiev of the war, the Moscow-backed rebels have indicated
they want the truce to take effect. But Kiev says the rebels are
still shooting, which the rebels deny.
Western countries have not given up on the ceasefire deal to end
fighting that has killed more than 5,600 people, but have made clear
they are suspicious of the rebels and their presumed patron, Russian
President Vladimir Putin.
European countries have warned of new economic sanctions against
Moscow if the rebels advance deeper into territory the Kremlin calls
"New Russia". Washington says it could arm Kiev.
"Today at 9 in the morning (1 a.m. ET) the planned withdrawal of
heavy equipment started," rebel commander Eduard Basurin told
Reuters. "We're pulling it back 50 km (30 miles) from the boundary
line ... Of course we won't say exactly where we're pulling it back
to."
 Basurin denied Ukrainian military reports of fighting in southeast
Ukraine, saying there had been "provocations" from the government
side but no serious clashes.
But the Kiev military said in a statement that rebel assertions they
were pulling back guns were "mere empty words".
"On the contrary, the terrorist groups, making use of the ceasefire
period, are reinforcing their units and building up ammunition."
It said one of its soldiers had been killed and seven wounded in the
past 24 hours, and repeated that it would not start pulling back
weapons until shooting stopped.
SOLE SIGNAL
"As soon as the fighters implement the ceasefire for two full days,
that is the sole signal to start the withdrawal," military spokesman
Andriy Lysenko said in a briefing, noting however that fighting had
diminished.
Separatist press service DAN reported ten incidents of government
shelling near the rebel-held stronghold of Donetsk.
Kiev and its Western allies say the rebels are funded and armed by
Moscow, and backed by Russian military units on the ground. Moscow
denies aiding sympathisers in Ukraine, and says the heavily armed
Russian-speaking troops operating without insignia there are not its
men.
Putin, who has mainly struck a conciliatory tone since the rebels
captured Debaltseve last week, said in an interview with state
television he did not think Russia and Ukraine would go to war
against each other.
"I think that such an apocalyptic scenario is unlikely and I hope
this will never happen," he said. He said he saw no need for another
meeting with the leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine like the one
that produced the truce deal.
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NEXT TARGET?
Kiev says the rebels have launched attacks on villages near
Mariupol, a port of 500,000 people, and fears that could be the next
separatist target.
"There's been quite intense shelling since the morning. The
situation is tense but under control," Dmytro Chaly, spokesman for
the Ukrainian military in Mariupol, said on television channel 112.
A feud over natural gas, which appeared to have been settled for the
winter by an agreement late last year, has also resurfaced.
Kiev has accused Moscow of failing to deliver gas it paid for in
advance under the deal; Russia said on Tuesday that Ukraine had paid
in advance for only two more days of supply, after which it could be
cut off.
The dispute dates back to last week when Kiev cut back gas to
rebel-held areas. Moscow replied by supplying the rebel areas
directly and suggesting it would bill those shipments to Kiev's
account. Kiev says it will not pay for gas supplied to the rebel
areas without its permission, through pipes outside its control.
Russia is the biggest supplier of natural gas to Europe, and much of
that transits Ukraine. Gas disputes between the two countries have
hurt European supplies in past winters during peak demand, although
last year Russia cut off gas to Ukraine for six mostly warm months
without hitting European flows.
The EU said it was not worried about supplies: "At the moment, gas
flows to the EU are normal and we expect that the gas transit to the
EU will not be affected," European Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa
Itkonen told reporters.
(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Alessandra Prentice and
Peter Graff in Kiev, Katya Golubkova and Vladimir Soldatkin in
Moscow; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and
Giles Elgood)
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