President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that Ukrainian troops will start to disengage from the village of Petrivske in eastern Ukraine on Nov. 4.
He made the announcement on Oct. 31 during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Kyiv.
Petrivske, a tiny village located over 680 kilometers to the southeast of Kyiv, will become the next step in the mutual pullback of Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed militants, a move aimed at decreasing shooting and casualties along the front line.
Disengagement in Petrivske, located near the occupied fortress city of Donetsk, and Zolote, in the Luhansk region, was postponed throughout October due to shelling of the area by Russian-backed militants.
On Oct. 29, Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces began pulling back in Zolote, a three-day process. The Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed that both Ukrainian and Russian-led forces were seen “exiting the disengagement area, together with their weapons.” However, the OSCE has continued to record ceasefire violations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On Oct. 31, the chief monitor of the OSCE mission, Yaşar Halit Çevik, welcomed the disengagement process in the area.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said that disengagement would provide for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops, but that fortified positions would stay in place.
Ukraine has already withdrawn from Stanytsya Luhanska, about 100 kilometers to the east of Zolote, at the end of June. The reconstruction of a heavily damaged bridge therebetween Ukrainian and Russian-occupied territories, one of the main front-line cross points for civilians, is now underway.
However, disengagement has not been a wholly popular move. Earlier this month, residents of Zolote sent a plea to Volodymyr Zelensky asking him to stop the withdrawal of troops from their town.
Russia still claims that it is not part of the conflict, and therefore cannot guarantee the disengagement of Russian-led militants.
Ukraine and Russia’s October 1 agreement to the so-called Steinmeier Formula for regulating the conflict in Donbas states that Ukrainian and Russian-led forces must withdraw from Stanytsya Luhanska and Zolote, as well as Petrivske.
Under the formula, the withdrawal of troops from both sides of the front line is supposed to lead to fair and free local elections within the Ukrainian state system. Accordingly, disengagement is the first step in the long path to peace promised by Zelensky during his campaign.
