Economist: Win some, lose more
Both Russian Presiden Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have reasons to want a truce. Putin to avoid more sanctions and questions from relatives of dead soldiers, and Poroshenko ahead of parliamentary election on Oct. 26th.
For all the celebrations in Kiev over ratifying the trade deal with Europe, it is the Russians who got most of what they wanted.
Historians will struggle to put dates on Russia's murky war against Ukraine.
It had no official start and no formal end. Russia never admitted that it was in the conflict, which it fanned and fought both directly and through proxies, so has not celebrated victory as it did after the annexation of Crimea. Ukraine never formally declared itself under attack, so it cannot formally admit its defeat.
