Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has claimed that Moscow has secured the consent of the militants of Donbas self-proclaimed republic to withdraw heavy weapons from the contact line on which Kyiv insists.

"We have approached the point when, regardless of the preservation of the disputed area on the contact line, which the militia don't want to vacate, we could safeguard the civilian population of cities and other populated areas. To this end, heavy weapons should be withdrawn," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow on Wednesday.

"We have already secured the militia's consent to withdraw heavy weapons not from the actual line but from the line on which Kyiv insists," he said.

"It is the Ukrainian authorities' turn now," he said.