Russia,
Ukraine and Europe’s top security body have announced an “indefinite” ceasefire
in eastern Ukraine that analysts hail as a substantial step toward ending the
five-year conflict.
The
war between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists in eastern
Ukraine's Donbass region has killed 13,000 people since it broke out in 2014.
Sporadic fighting went on despite a ceasefire agreement signed in 2015.
The
sides have agreed to lay down arms starting midnight this Sunday, July 21,
Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) — which collectively make up the Trilateral Contact Group — announced in a statement, with the participation of
representatives of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The
agreement includes a ban on forward movements and reconnaissance activities,
firing and a ban on the placement of heavy weapons near populated areas,
among other measures.
“The
unlimited ceasefire shows that both sides are really intent on going a step
further than at previous times,” Nikolaus von Twickel, a former
member of the OSCE monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine, told The Moscow Times
by phone.
He
said the development was substantial because there had been no joint
statements for previous ceasefires.
Von
Twickel, however, cautioned that the truce could break down at any moment, as
it has in the past. Additionally, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin and
Ukraine’s newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskiy were pursuing their own interests ahead
of parliamentary elections in Ukraine this Sunday.
“Russia’s
aim is to increase the results of pro-Russian parties in Ukraine before the
Rada elections. [Meanwhile,] Zelenskiy shows Ukrainians that under him there
will be more progress than there was under [ex-president Petro] Poroshenko,”
von Twickel told The Moscow Times.
The
Kremlin on Thursday said it hoped the sides of the
conflict would abide by the “important” ceasefire agreement.
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