Ambassador Martin Sajdik, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), has confirmed the beginning of disengagement of forces and hardware in Zolote.

The sides have just resumed the disengagement of forces and hardware in Zolote and fired white and green flares to signal their readiness, the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Sajdik as saying.

He additionally said that the conflicting sides would continue talks on resuming the disengagement process in Petrivske at today's meeting of the TCG.

The Trilateral Contact Group will meet in Minsk on Tuesday. Its subgroups are already in a meeting.

Zolote in the Luhansk region and Petrivske in the Donetsk region are the two pilot areas for disengaging the Donbas conflicting sides. Disengagement attempts were abortive for several weeks following Kyiv's acceptance of the Steinmeier formula. This situation has hindered the peace process.

The TCG approved the formula's text in Minsk on October 1.