OP-ED

Vladimir Socor: Ceasefire document officializes Donetsk-Luhansk militaries (Part one)

Published July 30, 2020. Updated July 30 at 6:05 am

Activists of Movement Against Surrender, including Ukrainian opposition parties, rally outside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office on July 27, 2020, during their protest against the next cease-fire with Russian-backed separatists. The Russian forces breached a tense ceasefire in eastern Ukraine just hours after it began, the Ukrainian army said.

Photo by AFP

Moscow has maneuvered Ukraine’s Presidential Office into quasi-recognizing Russia’s military proxies in “certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions” (Russian and Ukrainian acronym: ORDLO) for the first time. The vehicle for this breakthrough is the agreement on “Measures to Strengthen the Ceasefire Regime,” negotiated in the Minsk Contact Group, released on July 22, and effective from July 27 for an unlimited duration (President.gov.ua, July 22, 28).