Ukraine plans to withdraw tanks from the line of contact with militants in Donetsk region until the end of Thursday, Vladyslav Selezniov, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces, said on Channel 5 television on Thursday.

"The tanks are being withdrawn in keeping with the Minsk agreements. In line with the schedule drawn up within the framework of the Minsk working group and cleared by the Normandy Quartet, the withdrawal of tanks in the Donetsk sector is continuing today, this is our sector B. We plan to complete this process by the end of the day," Selezniov said.

The schedule stipulates that Friday, October 23, is a reserve day, Selezniov said. "After that, we will make a statement that the withdrawal of tanks from the separation line between the parties has been completed, and then monitors from the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission will start work, as they are supposed to verify the sites and the hardware that we have withdrawn," he said.

The same processes are ongoing on territories not controlled by Kyiv, Selezniov said. "OSCE SMM members are controlling the implementation of the Minsk agreements there as regards the withdrawal of weapons smaller than 100mm in caliber," he said.

In commenting on reports that militants had not withdrawn weapons in Vuhlehirsk, Krasnodon, and Stakhanov, Selezniov said, "According to the Minsk agreements, weapons must be withdrawn by 15 kilometers. All items of weapons that are farther than 15 kilometers from the separation line may be moved freely, and the militants may use them in any way."