U.S. ambassador avoids addressing Ukraine border control

The U.S. won’t call upon Ukraine to fulfill unilaterally its political requirements of the Minsk Accords, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch said in an interview with the dt.ua news site published on Nov. 4. Russia must first fulfill its requirements in the security sphere before local elections are held in Donbas, she said. These conditions of security must conform to Ukrainian law, as well as OSCE standards, she said.

Yovanovitch’s comments were in relation to the position of French President Hollande that local elections in Donbas be held without restoring Ukrainian control of the contested border between occupied Donbas and Russia, which would only happen afterwards. This position is in accordance with the Minsk Accords, as argued by Hollande and the Russian side.

Zenon Zawada: With her comments, Yovanovitch has left the U.S. position open on the status of the contested border during possible elections. We believe Western leaders will be eager to support the elections if the OSCE assumes control ahead of the vote. Putin seems to have agreed to this road map condition, with the likely caveat that the OSCE mission contains a sizable pro-Russian contingent of officers. In which case, the road map will be rejected by the Ukrainian side. In other words, the road map won’t help in fulfilling the Minsk Accords.