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Ukrainian servicemen and volunteers take part in emergency medical training course, before leaving for regions of eastern Ukraine, in the grounds of a military hospital in Kiev October 13, 2014. REUTERS

KIEV, Ukraine -- Military officials in Ukraine say there's been a reduction in the number of Russian soldiers at the heart of the fighting between government troops and separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Russian personnel who had been in field camps in Ukraine have been returning to their home bases inside Russia, Ukrainian security spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said Monday.

Moscow vehemently denies that it has troops in Ukraine or that it supports the separatist forces in Ukraine's largely Russian-speaking eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Lysenko described the reported withdrawal as a positive process, but said mercenary fighters were still entering Ukraine from southern Russia, where some Ukrainian border posts are controlled by rebels.

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Fighting escalates as Ukraine and NATO claim Russians troops are in eastern Ukriane

A cease-fire declared early last month between Ukrainian forces and rebel fighters has been violated almost daily, although the overall scale of fighting has eased substantially since that time.

Lysenko's statement comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered thousands of his country's troops who were posted near the Ukrainian border to return to their permanent bases. A Kremlin spokesman said Putin had ordered approximately 17,600 troops to return home from the southern region of Rostov.

The withdrawal may be a sign of goodwill ahead of Putin's trip to Milan on Thursday, where he is set to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and European Union leaders.

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Ukraine sees positive development in conflict zone

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday named the fourth defense minister to the head of the nation's beleaguered military in eight months and warned troops to expect to spend the winter on the front lines battling Russia-backed separatists.

A pro forma vote of the disbanded parliament set for Tuesday was expected to endorse the nomination of national guard commander Stepan Poltorak to replace Valery Heletey, who resigned Friday amid widespread criticism of his handling of the fighting in eastern Ukraine during his three months in the post.

Poltorak, 49, is a former commander of Interior Ministry troops who holds the rank of colonel general and a doctoral degree.

The change at the top of the military hierarchy, the third since a pro-European rebellion ousted former President Viktor Yanukovich in February, reflects the general disarray afflicting the armed forces. However, it may shield Poroshenko and his political allies from voters' anger as they go to the polls on Oct. 26 to elect a new parliament.

Ukrainian forces suffered more than 100 deaths in a late-August rout by the pro-Russia separatists in the town of Ilovaisk, just east of the insurgents' stronghold in Donetsk. The government troops were caught off guard by an invasion of Russian soldiers that cut off the forward units and prompted an entire battalion to retreat.

The defeat at Ilovaisk compelled Poroshenko to accept a cease-fire on Sept. 5 at peace talks in Minsk, Belarus, brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Fighting has died down in some of the conflict areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, although fierce battles are still raging for control of the Donetsk international airport. The United Nations human rights agency reported last week that at least 331 people had been killed since the cease-fire was declared.

Since the government launched an operation in April to retake territory seized by the separatists earlier this year at least 3,700 people have been killed, many of them civilians caught in the crossfire.

In a speech late Sunday, Poroshenko put the army on notice that troops should expect to remain deployed in eastern Ukraine throughout the winter and promised to provide warm uniforms and heating for their encampments.

"We cannot organize subtropical weather in the trenches, but soldiers must be dressed and heated in winter," he said, according to the Ukrinform news agency.

At the government's daily security briefing in Kiev, Col. Andriy Lysenko of the National Security and Defense Council said there were signs that Russian troops were pulling back from the border and out of positions inside Ukraine in the separatist-held areas.

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Ukraine president names national guard chief as defense minister

Russia is offering Ukraine a more flexible payment schedule for overdue natural-gas supplies to resolve a dispute that threatens to disrupt supplies to Europe as the heating season looms.

Russia may cut its demand for the first debt payment to $1.45 billion from $2 billion, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters today in Moscow. Ukraine must settle this amount and pay an advance before Russia will resume deliveries to the transit nation, he said.

We officially sent that proposal on Oct. 3 to the EU, Novak said. Ukraine hasnt accepted it yet.

The European Union, which depends on Russian gas piped across Ukraine for about 15 percent of its needs, has been seeking to broker an interim deal between the two countries to avoid a repeat of supply cuts in early 2006 and 2009. Russian gas exporter OAO Gazprom halted deliveries to Ukraine over a pricing and debt dispute in June, as political tensions rose over a separatist conflict in the smaller nation.

Ukraine has so far failed to approve proposals the EU made at three-way talks in September, which would oblige it to pay $3.1 billion of gas debt to Russia by the end of this year. In return, Russia would decrease its price through March by $100 to $385 per 1,000 cubic meters, for at least 5 billion cubic meters of the fuel.

The government in Moscow is sticking to its demand for payment of $3.1 billion this year, while Ukraine is seeking to spread the remainder -- after $1.45 billion for November and December of 2013 -- in equal installments through March, Novak said.

Ukraine told the EU it would need 4 billion cubic meters of Russian gas for the heating season under the interim agreement, Novak said. The country lacks 5 billion cubic meters of gas to get through the winter, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan told reporters in Kiev today.

Novak, Prodan and EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger plan to resume talks on the interim agreement Oct. 21.

I cannot say that we will be able to reach a final decision, Prodan said today. But anything is possible.

The government in Kiev is ready to consider the proposals from Russia, Interfax reported today, citing Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroisman.

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