Interpreter Staff

Ukraine Live Day 383: Ukraine Reports It Has Not Had Casualties In The Last 24 Hours

March 7, 2015
Ukraine
Ukraine At War

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BBC Leads With Headline About Rebels Pulling Back Heavy Weapons
2015-03-07 16:30:58

We’ve heard this before, but the BBC is leading with the headline “Ukraine crisis: Rebels ‘pull heavy weapons’ from front line.” BBC reports:

Pro-Russia rebels in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, says they have “fully removed” heavy weapons from the front line, as agreed in a ceasefire deal.

The claim was made by the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, who added that Ukraine had not reciprocated

“We have withdrawn from the contact line all arms with a calibre of over 100mm,” Mr Zakharchenko said on Saturday. “Unfortunately, Ukraine has not done that.”

The problem: the Russian-supported forces have already claimed to have pulled heavy weaponry back in accordance with the Minsk agreement. It didn’t happen:

The other problem — casualties have been on the rise for days. Yesterday we reported that 4 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed in the previous 24 hours. Today, however, the fighting does appear to be lessened.
— James Miller