Ukraine's representative in a security subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group Yevhen Marchuk has said that a simultaneous withdrawal of forces near the town of Petrivske in Donetsk region has been completed, which has been confirmed by the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE.

"The simultaneous withdrawal of servicemen near Petrivske has been completed. The OSCE SMM has checked and confirmed this. A group of Ukrainian officers of the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC), as well as OSCE SMM observers will remain there for round-the-clock monitoring," Marchuk wrote on his Facebook page on Friday.

In his words, over nearly a month, not a single Ukrainian soldier has been killed or injured in the area where disengagement of forces is taking place near the towns of Zolote and Petrivske.

Earlier on Friday, Head of Donetsk Region Military-Civilian Administration Pavlo Zhebrivsky said Ukrainian Armed Forces units started to withdraw from the contact line between the villages of Bohdanivka and Petrivske in Donetsk region and are expected to complete this process on Sunday, October 9.

Later, Ukrainian presidential administration spokesman for the anti-terrorist operation Andriy Lysenko said that the ATO forces have drawn back at the distance of one kilometer in the area of Bohdanivka and Petrivske.

"Today, at 11:00 in the morning, the withdrawal of forces and weapons of the Ukrainian army and the opponent's units was successfully held in the area of Bohdanivka and Petrivske in the Mariupol sector," Lysenko said. He said that the ATO forces moved one kilometer west and took new earlier-designated positions. The withdrawal process was observed and verified by monitors of the OSCE SMM.