U.S. welcomes weapons pullback in Ukraine, criticizes cease-fire violations

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. officials on Wednesday welcomed signs that Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine are pulling some heavy weapons from the line of contact, but one official said the United States also was "disturbed" about a recent rise in cease-fire violations. "We are now starting to see for the first time some pullback of Russian and separatist weapons," Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told a hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a briefing later that while the United States welcomed the pullback of some heavy weapons, "we are disturbed by an uptick in cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine over the past two weeks." "Throughout Donetsk and Luhansk, separatists have repeatedly attacked Ukrainian forces with small arms, grenade launchers, anti-aircraft weapons and high-caliber machine guns," Kirby said. "This violence endangers the cease-fire." NATO has called on Russia to withdraw heavy weapons which the alliance accuses it of providing in support of militant separatist groups in eastern Ukraine. Russia denies Western charges it has provided the pro-Moscow rebels, who launched a rebellion in April 2014 in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, with arms and troops. While violence has declined since a cease-fire was signed in Minsk eight months ago, Western diplomats say the 11-point peace plan is far from fully implemented. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and David Alexander; editing by G Crosse, Bernard Orr)