Small (disappointed) hope in Ukraine for a new “Minsk” agreement (maj2)

(BRUXELLES2) Have we arrived in Ukraine at a time of relaxation after the resurgence of fighting and violence in eastern Ukraine since January? A small hope emerged today after the negotiations started by the trilateral group (*) and on the eve of a new round of negotiations in Minsk. According to the OSCE communiqué, an agreement determining "concrete steps" for the implementation of the Minsk memorandum has been approved and will be signed tomorrow in Minsk: immediate ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of contact, unrestricted provision of basic goods and humanitarian assistance in the affected regions of Donetsk and Luhansk and progress in the release of detainees.

The fighting continues

(Updated 1 - Sat Jan 31 18pm) However, this hope is very slim because the same day the fighting was raging around Debaltseve where there were several thousand Ukrainian soldiers almost surrounded. And there were shellings in Donetsk (according to what OSCE observers reported in a report released to the press on Saturday). Called " by the emergency services of the Donetsk People's Republic » (self-proclaimed), the observers have " could not observe de crater in the avenue Panfilov but observed that a shells had exploded in a tree in front of « Hotel Europe ». Jnext to it is " a building frequently used for the distribution of humanitarian aid by a private foundation Ukrainian »). They recorded 5 civilians killed (3 men and 2 women).

A meeting without agreement

(Updated 1 - Sat Jan 31 19:15 PM) The negotiators left on Saturday evening, without an agreement apparently according to AFP

(NGV)

(*) the trilateral group brings together the Swiss ambassador Heidi Tagliavini for the OSCE, the former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma (from 1994 to 2005) and the Russian ambassador to Ukraine, Mikhail Zurabov