he also called on moscow to withdraw its forces from ukraine , saying russian troops , artillery and air defence units were still active in the country .
ukraine withdrew troops from the embattled strategic railway hub of debaltseve early wednesday after pro - russia rebels overran the town in what kiev and western officials called a violation of a fragile , european - brokered cease - fire .
russia said ukrainian forces had tried to fight their way out of the town .
later rebel spokesman eduard basurin was quoted in russian media as saying debaltseve was fully under the control of separatists , although there were still " disparate groups of the enemy " in the southern part of town .
he said rebels to provide troops who surrendered with food and water .
media playback is unsupported on your device media caption footage of debaltseve captured by a drone showed evidence of shelling eyewitnesses saw dozens of tanks and columns of weary ukrainian troops retreating from debaltseve on wednesday .
mr poroshenko visited the soldiers who had left debaltseve in the town of artemivsk on wednesday .
dozens of vehicles from tanks to trucks rumbled along the road to the nearest large town , artemivsk , and russian state television showed what it said was footage of separatists raising their flag over ... media playback is unsupported on your device media caption president poroshenko met with troops who withdrew from debaltseve the ukrainian president says his forces are making an " organised " withdrawal from the embattled town of debaltseve .
brutal violation ' president poroshenko said in a statement : " debaltseve was under our control , there was no encirclement , and our troops left the area in a planned and organised manner . "