Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that the buffer zone which runs along the contact line does not include the city of Mariupol.

"I want to tell Mariupol residents that the president stands by you, the armed forces stand by you, their best representatives, including paratroopers, marines, and artillery, stand by you. Mariupol has nothing to do with the buffer zone," he told journalists in Kyiv on Monday after a meeting with volunteers.

As of today, all subdivisions in Mariupol are in their positions, Poroshenko said.

"Only heavy artillery and valley fire systems are being withdrawn. But they will be returned to their positions at once if the conflict escalates. Do not listen to those panicking, send them away," he said.

Alarmists "working for unclear" parties assessed the approach of the best marine subdivisions to Mariupol as "here, they [servicemen previously deployed in Mariupol] leave, run away" and this is instead of convincing Mariupol residents that "this is our outpost," Poroshenko said.

"We will never surrender it to anyone," the president said. The defense of Mariupol is reinforced by "the best units and subdivisions of the Ukrainian armed forces," he said.

Poroshenko said in Severodonetsk on July 22 that he ordered Ukrainian representatives in the contact group to sign an agreement on a 30-kilometer buffer zone along the front line in Donbas.