New Year’s ceasefire fails in Donbas armed fighting

In what has become an annual tradition, an attempt at
a New Year’s ceasefire on the Donbas frontlines fell apart as the Ukrainian
side accused its Russian-backed enemies of firing provocative shots with
grenade launchers. Between Dec. 28 (the ceasefire’s first day) and Jan. 1, at
least one Ukrainian soldier was killed and six wounded, according to the press
service of the Joint Forces Operation. The ceasefire regime was violated at
least 20 times in this period, sometimes using armaments prohibited by the
Minsk Accords.

Zenon Zawada: The Donbas warfront remains a hot spot that can be potentially
manipulated by both the Russian and Ukrainian presidents to affect the
Ukrainian elections. That’s in addition to the Kerch Strait hot spot that
opened up in November. With so much military tension, and with so much at stake
in the presidential elections (scheduled for March 31), the potential for
another armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine during the election campaign
is more likely than not, in our view. So is the potential for this conflict to
be manipulated for political ends. But this time, the conflict could be far
more devastating than a few shots being fired and boats being detained, as was
the case with the Nov. 25 incident.