Ukraine rebels say their small weapons pullback is beginning

The rebels said tanks and armored vehicles with weapons under 100 mm would be pulled back 3 km from most of the front line in eastern Ukraine.

He was speaking after Ukrainian military official Serhiy Halushko said the army had intercepted and posted online rebel radio traffic that suggested the separatists had planned to shell Donetsk.

A February agreement called for a cease-fire and for both sides to pull back heavy weaponry.

Late on Saturday, rebels said the attacks had killed one civilian, destroyed buildings and started several fires in the city.

But Ukrainian military observers said they witnessed rebel missile systems “turned towards Donetsk, shelling residential areas of Donetsk, then turning and starting to fire in the direction of Ukrainian positions”.

More than 6,500 people have been killed since fighting between Ukrainian government forces and separatists erupted in April 2014.

The weekend shelling comes after Dutch investigators released a report last week determining that pro-Russian rebels near Donetsk were responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17, killing 298 people. “We are showing the whole world that we are fulfilling the Minsk Agreement”, the head of the Luhansk separatist militia Sergei Koslov said, according to local media cited by the dpa news agency.

It also says the exercise “comes at the explicit request of the Ukrainian government and military”.

A Ukrainian soldier had also been killed and seven injured in the last 24 hours, mainly on Donetsk’s western outskirts, military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk told a press briefing.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the ceasefire, has said neither of the rival sides has fully withdrawn even heavy artillery as required by the peace deal – signed in February.