The Ukrainian government forces started withdrawing mortars smaller than 120mm in caliber from the line of contact in the Artemivsk sector of the military operation area in Donbas, Vladyslav Selezniov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian armed forces' general staff, told Interfax on Thursday.

"We have started withdrawing mortars in the Artemivsk sector. The withdrawal started at 10:00 a.m.," Selezniov told Interfax.