On Nov. 1 Ukraine’s Joint Forces announced that Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed militants have completed the disengagement of manpower and weapons near the frontline town of Zolote in the Donbas.
According to the statement published by the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) on Facebook, the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed both sides had successfully completed the withdrawal.
The three-day process started on Oct. 29 despite reports of ceasefire violations near the town the day before.
While disengagement is expected to significantly decrease the probability of armed clashes, the joint forces reported that Russian backed militants violated the ceasefire 13 times on Nov. 1 along different sections of the frontline.
The joint force’s statement says that in case Russian-backed militants violate the withdrawal arrangement, the Ukrainian forces will react.
“In the cases of threats to life and health, seizure of territories or infiltration of hostile reconnaissance groups, the forces will provide an adequate response by opening fire at the enemy,” the statement reads.
On Oct. 29, Lieutenant General Volodymyr Kravchenko, the commanding officer of the Ukrainian combined military-police contingent in the war zone, said that the Ukrainian military didn’t hold any direct negotiations with the enemy, using OSCE monitors as mediators instead.
With the successful disengagement near Zolote, the town’s cross-front line entry point, which has been closed to civilian traffic for three years, is expected to resume full-time operations. The road will be the first and only road to cross the frontline in Luhansk Oblast.
In late June, the two sides successfully pulled back their forces near another front line checkpoint, Stanytsya Luhanska. There, a ruined bridge between Ukrainian and Russian-occupied territories, which serves as one of the main pedestrian front-line cross points for civilians, is now being reconstructed.
Amid the withdrawal near Zolote, President Zelensky Oct. 31 announced on Oct. 31 that another round of disengagements will begin on Nov. 4 near the frontline village of Petrivske.
If that withdrawal is successful, it will complete the list of towns set for disengagement according to the Steinmeier Formula, which Ukraine and Russia agreed to on Oct. 1. After a full withdrawal, the territories will hold elections within the Ukrainian state system.
However, Zelensky’s peace efforts to end the Kremlin’s war have been challenged by ongoing ceasefire violations by Russian militants and considerable opposition from the Ukrainian public, with thousands protesting in Kyiv on Oct. 6.
While many support the president’s attempts to end the war, others see his steps as surrender and worry Russia will violate the agreement once Ukraine’s soldiers withdraw.
