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Bloomberg
Talks to end the five-year conflict in eastern Ukraine produced the first major breakthrough since a lapsed 2015 peace accord, paving the way for an international summit to cement progress.
Negotiators meeting in the Belarusian capital of Minsk agreed on a schedule under which elections will be held in the breakaway regions and a new law will be passed granting them special status.
The plan was proposed by Frank-Walter Steinmeier when he was Germany’s foreign minister and is known as the Steinmeier formula.
The agreement comes as new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy targets better relations with Russia. He reiterated that Ukraine wants a cease-fire, a withdrawal of Russian-backed fighters and control of its border back before ballots are cast.
“If we want elections under Ukrainian law, we understand the border should be ours,†Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv. Elections can’t be held if “any troops†remain in the disputed regions, he said.
Ukraine and Russia, one-time allies, have been at loggerheads since protesters in Kyiv ousted Kremlin-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Russia went on to annex Crimea and foment the conflict in Ukraine’s Donbas region, which has killed more than 13,000 people.
The hostilities have triggered US and European Union sanctions against Russia, rekindling Cold War rivalries.
“The Steinmeier formula itself carries no threat or betrayal,†Oleksiy Haran, a politics professor at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, said by phone.