Today, on February 17, after a large briefing of Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, in Lugansk was held a meeting of the Heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republic with the first deputy head of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Ukraine, Alexander Hug. 

During the event, Alexander Zakharchenko said that he would not order the withdrawal of any piece of equipment from the front line until Ukraine withdraws its weapons, reports the correspondent of the official website of the DPR. 

‘I officially declare that I, as the Head of the Donetsk People's Republic, will not give the order to withdraw any piece of equipment from the front line until we see that the Ukrainian military have done it on their side. My signature will not be put under such a decree until we're sure of this,’ said the Head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko.