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Ukraine’s Zelensky hopes troops will be pulled back in new zones in Donbass soon

A framework agreement on disengagement of forces in Donbass was signed by Ukraine, Russia, the OSCE and the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk in September 2016

KIEV, September 13. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has expressed hope that the withdrawal of troops that was launched recently in Donbass zones agreed earlier will be continued soon, he told the Yalta European Strategy forum in Kiev on Friday.

"Speaking of the disengagement, it is another sensitive topic," Zelensky pointed out. "We disengaged troops in Stanitsa Luganskaya. There’s no shooting there. We began building a bridge there. The next stage is to disengage forces in Petrovskoye and Zolotoye. I think we will achieve that in the coming weeks."

A framework agreement on disengagement of forces in Donbass was signed by Ukraine, Russia, the OSCE and the self-proclaimed republics in Donetsk and Lugansk in September 2016.

Under the agreement, security zones are to be created at three sections of the line of contact, namely near Petrovskoye (in the Donetsk People’s Republic, or DPR), Zolotoye and Stanitsa Luganskaya (both in the Lugansk People’s Republic, or LPR). The agreement envisages withdrawal of armed forces from the line of contact to create security zones at least one kilometer wide and one kilometer deep.

The disengagement process was completed near Zolotoye and Petrovskoye in October 2016. Efforts to disengage forces near Stanitsa Luganskaya kept on failing under UKraine’s former President Pyotr Poroshenko. Moreover, Ukrainian troops returned their former positions in Petrovskoye and Zolotoye. The sides got back to the implementation of the 2016 agreement only after the presidential elections in Ukraine when Kiev formed a new delegation to the Contact Group. In late June 2019, the parties finally disengaged forces near Stanitsa Luganskaya but there is little progress in the other zones.