DPR allows for further demilitarization, expecting mirror response from Kyiv
DONETSK. July 9 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) is ready to consider demilitarization of other populated localities along the contact line if the Shyrokyne experiment proves successful.
"Shyrokyne is an experiment. We have arranged unilateral demilitarization and we are expecting a mirror response from Ukraine. If this experiment is successful, we may suggest applying it to other populated localities along the contact line," DPR negotiator Denis Pushilin said at a roundtable meeting in Donetsk.
However, this can happen only if it helps stop the shelling of DPR-controlled populated localities, he said.
He also refuted rumors and reports of Ukrainian media outlets about the withdrawal of DPR forces from Horlivka.
"No one is going to leave Horlivka; I have heard rumors that we have unilaterally demilitarized the Donetsk Petrovskyi district but this is not so," Pushilin said.
The Donetsk militia announced its withdrawal from Shyrokyne on July 2. "The DPR army has pulled back all forces from Shyrokyne. Shyrokyne is totally deserted. The OSCE is drawing up a plan to monitor ceasefire in Shyrokyne," senior official of the DPR Defense Ministry Eduard Basurin told reporters.
Pushilin also said it was wrong to organize partial exchanges of prisoners with Ukraine.
"I think it is wrong for us to conduct partial exchanges. It is now much more important to us to free all political prisoners," he said.