OSCE says Ukraine rebels have powerful Russian rocket launcher

International monitors say they have found a new type of Russian-made rocket system in rebel-held eastern Ukraine.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) spotted the powerful TOS-1 Buratino multiple rocket launcher in Luhansk.

Meanwhile, the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France discussed peace efforts in Ukraine, with Paris and Kiev saying the pullout of light weapons would start on Saturday.

Moscow denies arming the rebels.

It also rejects accusations by Ukraine and the West that it is sending heavy weapons to the pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

However, the Kremlin admits that Russian “volunteers” are fighting alongside the rebels.

The OSCE, which is monitoring the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, said in a statement that it found the Buratino on a military training ground run by the so-called People’s Republic of Luhansk in the village of Kruhlyk.

The rockets have two types of warhead – either incendiary, which can spread flames over tens of kilometres, or thermobaric, which sucks up oxygen to boost the explosion.

Russian-made Grad rockets have been used by both sides in the conflict, but the Buratino is a more powerful system.

Ukraine’s military previously said the Buratino – nicknamed “scorched earth” in Russia – had been used against government troops in rebel-held eastern Ukraine. But the OSCE said the sighting on 25 September was the first it had on record.

Only Russia produces the system, according to defence analysis group IHS Jane’s and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Experts say the Buratino was not exported to Ukraine before the conflict in the east of the country broke out last year.

In Paris, Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday for the first time since they agreed a peace deal for Ukraine in Minsk in February.

The so-called Normandy Four meeting assessed all elements of the deal, including the staging of local elections in the rebel-held regions and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact.

Hollande said the pullout would start on Friday, with Poroshenko later confirming this.

The government in Kiev and the pro-Russian rebels earlier finally agreed to withdraw weapons of less than 100mm calibre from the front line.

Poroshenko said this process would then continue in stages and should be completed within 41 days.

The French leader also said the elections in the rebel areas must be held according to Ukrainian law, as envisaged in the Minsk peace deal.