Ukraine to try to withdraw forces in Donbas, Russia-U.S. relations worsen

The Ukrainian government will fulfill the Framework Decision on Disengagement of Forces with the withdrawal of forces at Petrovske in the Luhansk region on Oct. 7 and at Stanytsia Luhanska on Oct. 9, said on Oct. 5 Darka Olifer, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian representative to the Trilateral Contact Group. However, the withdrawal will only occur if shootings cease and only at the same time as the opponent’s withdrawal and under OSCE control, she said. Pro-Russian forces fired upon Ukrainian forces 40 times in the last 24 hours, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said the morning of Oct. 7. 12 of the shootings occurred in the Luhansk region.

Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, led a U.S. delegation to Moscow on Oct. 5 to discuss the situation in Donbas and further steps towards fulfilling the Minsk Accords. “Both sides confirmed that disengagement from the first sites on the line of contact represents an important initial step towards improved security, but far more work remains,” said a U.S. State Department press release.

The Russian Federation government decided on Oct. 5 to terminate its 2013 cooperation agreement with the U.S. on scientific research and development in the nuclear and energy spheres, its website reported. The statement cited U.S. sanctions as having directly affected cooperation. The announcement came two days after Russian President Putin issued a decree suspending cooperation with the U.S. on the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium. A bill, submitted by Putin to parliament the same day, called upon the U.S. to lift its economic sanctions and compensate for the damage done, as well as pull back NATO deployments in Eastern Europe after 2000.

Zenon Zawada: Hostilities have reached a new high between the U.S. and Russia, which are directly involved in the Syria armed conflict. Russia is directly involved in the Ukraine armed conflict, while the U.S. is indirectly involved. This indicates that the Russian government, which is hurting from the sanctions imposed, is willing to raise the stakes in order to get them removed. This week’s news reports in the Western media of 40 million Russians participating in emergency preparedness drills are a deliberate part of that strategy and part of the information war to frighten Western citizens. Of course, the threats could very well be serious.

We haven’t written on the Framework Decision on Disengagement of Forces, reached in late September, because we saw it as the latest attempt at a cease-fire that would fail. Indeed intense shooting occurred this weekend and the following days. We admire these attempts at peace but don’t see any prospects because the Putin administration is using the Donbas conflict to exhaust the West and won’t settle for anything less than victory in Donbas, whether through establishing autonomy, creating a frozen conflict or expanding the war.