Deal Reached For Ukraine Cease-Fire

Deal Reached For Ukraine Cease-Fire From July 27. RFE/RL
Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have reached an agreement for a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine from July 27. 

“The regime of full and comprehensive cease-fire, if observed by the other party, is a basic precondition for the implementation of the Minsk agreements and opens the way to the implementation of other provisions of these agreements,” the Ukrainian president’s office said July 22. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was elected last year on promises to end the conflict in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Germany and France have mediated between Ukraine and Russia since a peace agreement was signed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, in 2015, but efforts at implementation have faltered.

The leaders of the four countries met at a summit in Paris in December 2019 to revive the peace process, leading to Kyiv and Russia-backed separatists in the east of Ukraine conducting a series of prisoner exchanges. 

Lingering issues remain over a timeline for local elections, control over borders in the separatist-controlled regions, the withdrawal of Russian military units and equipment, and disarmament of separatist groups.

Moscow denies it has troops in eastern Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s relationship with Russia has been tense ever since protests in Kyiv led to the overthrow of pro-Russian leader Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014.

Russia forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula shortly thereafter and backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, sparking a war that has resulted in some 13,200 deaths.

• RFE/RL’s Ukrainian ServiceRFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service is dedicated to covering all of Ukraine, including the conflict zones and Crimea, and sets a standard for balanced reporting and high-impact investigative journalism.