Russia, Ukraine reach latest agreements on Donbas war

Officials at the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk to
resolve the armed conflict in Donbas reached agreement on Mar. 11 on four
issues, among them being the latest exchange of war prisoners, the President’s
Office of Ukraine reported on its website. A list has been approved by both
sides, it said. Also agreed upon was the opening of border checkpoints in the
Donetsk town of Zolote and Luhansk town of Shchastia. More areas for
withdrawing forces and hardware were also discussed. Among those participating
in the talks were the lead negotiators: Andriy Yermak, the head of the
President’s Office of Ukraine, and Dmitry Kozak, a deputy head of the Russian
Presidential Administration, the website said.

The introduction of a “consultative council” was also
announced in the president’s office statement, without offering more details.
Yet Donbas representatives claimed this was a concession by the Ukrainian side
to create a forum to engage in direct negotiations for the first time,
according to a statement by the foreign ministry of the self-declared Donetsk
People’s Republic. “For the first time, the participants of the contact group
drafted and agreed upon protocol decisions in practically all tangents of work.
One more significant advance was an agreement upon the need for an institution
of a special mechanism to resolve issues in the framework of the political
group. Its idea involves creating a platform for direct talks between the two
sides in the conflict,” said the foreign ministry statement, as reported by the
politnavigator.news, a pro-Kremlin news site. The consultative council will
address political issues, according to a Donbas negotiator, as reported by the
site.

Zenon Zawada: The war
prisoner exchange is what was largely expected to be gained from the Minsk
talks. The opening of border checkpoints is further baby steps, as well as more
possible areas for withdrawal. Yet any council to involve direct talks between
officials representing Ukraine and Donbas is almost certain to draw protest
from Ukraine’s pro-Western forces. Avoiding such direct talks – which would be
an acceptance of the Russian narrative that it’s not a direct party to the
warfare – has been a key position of the Ukrainian government ever since the
war in Donbas erupted in 2014. No one in Ukraine has yet to confirm the report
of “a platform for direct talks.”

Ultimately, none of these announcements is enough to
bring Moscow to the Normandy Format negotiating table in April. We are
confident a great deal more is being discussed and agreed upon behind the
scenes, particularly between Yermak and Kozak. The Zelensky administration will
go to great lengths to arrange the April meeting, and to hold local elections
in Donbas in October (along with the rest of the country). The main question is
how many concessions to Russia will Ukraine’s pro-Western activist community
accept.