more Ukraine research and thoughts.

[Thomas Eckhardt]

Am 24.01.2022 um 22:26 schrieb Martin Dietze:

> No, this is utterly wrong. Minsk II included a ceasefire and freezing the
> line separating both sides (and hence their respective held territories).
> The Russian proxies had failed to take the strategically important town
> Debaltsevo before the agreement took effect. On Ferbruary 12, 2015 they
> launched a vast offensive combining volunteer units, regular Russian army
> units, using (banned) heavy artillery including the TOS-1 heavy
> flamethrower system, took Debaltsevo and have kept it to this day.
>
> After this blatant violation Minsk II was dead from day 1. Claiming that
> Ukraine were to fulfil their part now - as Moscow does - is utter cynicism.

This is a controversial claim. As you surely know but inexplicably fail
to mention, Debaltsevo was discussed in Minsk. Poroshenko did not admit
that his troops were surrounded and therefore saw no reason for them to
surrender:

"The most important question, the question of the ceasefire, threatened
to derail the whole meeting. Vladimir Putin presented his trump card.
His trump card is Debaltseve. In the small town in eastern Ukraine, 70
km northeast of Donetsk, 5000 men of the Ukrainian armed forces are
encircled. That's nearly a third of the soldiers Kiev currently has on
the front lines, one-sixth of all its forces. That weakened the
Ukrainian president's negotiating position. Putin demanded that
Ukrainian soldiers surrender before a cease-fire could even be
discussed. Poroshenko became agitated. There was no cauldron near
Debaltseve, he said. And the condition of Putin, with whom he is on
familiar terms, is totally unacceptable, he said. Never, never will he
hand over Debaltseve."

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/die-verhandlungen-von-minsk-ein-russisches-spiel-13428669.html

As I understand it, Debaltsevo was therefore not included in the agreement.

In any case, Minsk II is still valid, despite the events in Debaltsevo,
and there can be no doubt that Ukraine has not fulfilled its obligations
under the agreement. As you admit.