Section: Atlantic Council (USA)
The Flawed Minsk Peace Accord—And How to Use It
Truce Buys Ukraine Time to Get a Little Real Help From Its Friends Ukraine and its allies hope this month’s cease-fire deal agreed with Russia and Russian-backed rebels brings relative calm to southeastern Ukraine. But the Minsk agreement is deeply flawed, and there is every chance it may yet unravel, even if it holds for the short term....
Ukraine’s Fight Against Corruption Slogs Forward
New Prosecutor Briefly Arrests a Prominent Oligarch; Anti-Corruption Bureau Seeks a Director The Ukrainian campaign to actually begin cleaning up Europe’s most corrupt government and economy is progressing more slowly than many Ukrainians have demanded. But the past week showed some movement in two critical government agencies: the...
Russian Forces Win a ‘Cease-Fire’ Battle in Ukraine
Kyiv Forced into New Retreat; US, Europe Must Increase Support, Atlantic Council Analysts Say At midday February 18, three-and-a-half days beyond the designated hour for a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, fighting was continuing in the strategic city of Debaltseve, where Russian forces continue to pound a nearly surrounded Ukrainian contingent that...
Ukraine’s Other War: Parliament Advances Anti-Corruption Fight
Lawmakers Vote to End Their Immunity from Prosecution Members of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, overwhelmingly passed a bill to end their own legal immunity from prosecution, one of the main laws that for years helped Ukraine to the top of Europe’s corruption charts. Article 80 of Ukraine’s constitution protects all...
The Other War: Ukraine Wins a First Big Battle Against Corruption
Parliament Votes in Landslide to Remove its Own Immunity from Prosecution Members of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, overwhelmingly passed a bill to end their own legal immunity from prosecution, one of the main laws that for years helped Ukraine to the top of Europe’s corruption charts. Article 80 of Ukraine’s...
Making Ukraine’s ‘Glimmer of Hope’ Sustainable
If Russia Permits, the Minsk Accord Could Be a Start for Stabilizing Donbas The ceasefire agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine on in Minsk on 12 February offers what German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls “a glimmer of hope, no more no less” for constricting, and eventually ending, the war in southeast Ukraine’s Donbas region. Whether that...
Russia’s Military Advance in Ukraine Wins It Advantages in New Truce Deal
‘Minsk II’ Accord Will Let Moscow Keep Pumping Arms, Fighters into Ukraine War With thousands of Ukrainian troops nearly surrounded in Donbas by the freshly armed, Kremlin-directed rebel militias, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko accepted the Minsk II agreement February 12. The new accord is clearly less advantageous to Kyiv than...
A Glimmer of Hope in Ukraine?
A new deal that would end the fighting between Ukrainian security forces and Russian-backed separatists is being met with skepticism amid an escalation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.“This is essentially the same ceasefire that failed before, so I expect the same issues to arise: Kyiv’s control of the border, lack of removal of...
Ukraine’s Fate Hangs in the Balance in Minsk, Once Again
The leaders of France, Germany, Russia, and Ukraine are set to meet in Belarus’ capital Minsk on February 11 to hammer out a deal to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine. The meeting takes place against a backdrop of a worsening conflict as Russian-backed separatists made a push to take new territory and consolidate their strongholds in what...
Obama-Merkel Accord Delays Talk of Arms for Ukraine’s Defense Against Russia
Europe Signals New Negotiation With Kremlin Will Not Include New Pressures on Kyiv The Obama-Merkel summit was critical for maintaining Transatlantic unity in the face of Moscow’s escalating aggression in Ukraine. While skeptical of the Kremlin’s intentions, German Chancellor Angela Merkel would like to try another round of diplomacy...
