Kiev likely to order heavy artillery withdrawal - source

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is likely to order government forces to start pullng back heavy weapons in the country's east on Thursday under a Feb. 12 peace deal, a military source said.

"We expect the statement by the president later today," the source said.

Pro-Russian separatists say they have started to pull back heavy weapons under the agreement. Kiev has said its forces will start pulling back their big guns only when the shooting stops, and fighting has eased considerably in the past few days.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Writing by Timothy Heritage, Editing by Elizabeth Piper)