Ukraine marks 29 days without a front-line death

The Ukrainian army has not recorded a death on the front
lines in the last 29 days, President Zelensky noted in an Independence Day
address on 24 Aug. Also on Monday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas praised
the “significant progress” made under the Minsk agreement, and in particular
that the latest cease-fire agreement has lasted longer than the other 20+
attempts that came before it, German state outlet dw.com reported. Maas arrived
in Kyiv to meet President Zelensky regarding Minsk agreement issues, including
a search for ways to speed up the process.

James Hydzik: It is
unclear, given the current attention given to the demonstrations in Belarus,
whether a Minsk-related meeting originally pencilled-in for September will
occur – no date is set as of yet. Belarus is not the only issue that bears upon
the Minsk process, though. All sides will be weighing the potential outcomes of
the presidential election in the United States, and the poisoning of Russian
opposition leader Alexey Navalny at a time when his influence was minimal can
be seen as evidence of the Kremlin towers fighting among themselves and with
even less attention focused on Ukraine.

If it happens that both Belarus and in-fighting remain
heated through most of September, not only the Minsk-related meeting but also
the potential military action against Ukraine that could occur during Russia’s
military exercises along the Ukrainian border in September, which observers in
both Ukraine and abroad are openly concerned about, may not come to pass.