Ukraine president signs order for ceasefire as of April 1

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a March 30 order for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to cease fire as of April 1, as had been agreed upon by the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk on March 29. “Again, this rejects Russian assertions that the Ukrainian side is not ready for peace,” Poroshenko said. “Quite the opposite. For all three years, we have consistently not only declared, but proved that the Ukrainian side is in favor of ensuring the ceasefire regime, removing the Russian armies, gaining control of the uncontrolled area on the Ukrainian-Russian border and renewing Ukrainian sovereignty on occupied Donbas and Crimea.”

Following the March 29 Minsk contact group meeting, a Ukrainian spokeswoman, Daria Olifer, pointed out that the ceasefire was agreed upon despite numerous recent actions that the Russian government took to undermine the Minsk Accords, including recognize documents issued by the self-declared republics, the introduction of the ruble on the territory and recent legislation. She also pointed to violations by the local leaders, including  its recent seizure of Ukrainian state and private enterprises.

The most shellings from prohibited, high-caliber armaments since the start of the year was recorded in the Donbas military conflict in the week ended March 23, OSCE Deputy Chief of Mission Kate Byrnes told the OSCE permanent council on March 30. She reported on up to 4,000 incidents. The presence of such arms near the separation line can provoke a quick escalation, she said.

Zenon Zawada: This is the umpteenth time a ceasefire has been declared and we see no reason for optimism this time around. However, Poroshenko is doing what he needs to do, which is to send the message globally that he is doing all he can to stop the killing.