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A ceasefire in Donbas that faltered within hours
Summary
A retrospective on the July 2020 truce in eastern Ukraine and the reported violations that followed it.
What did a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine amount to on 28 July 2020, two days after it was agreed? The reports from the preceding days show a truce under strain almost from the start.
On 26 July 2020, the government of Ukraine concluded a ceasefire deal with rebel forces, set to begin at midnight. The conflict in eastern Ukraine had been going on since 2014 and had killed over 14,000 people.
Violations within hours
On 27 July 2020, Ukraine's military said pro-Russian separatists had violated the ceasefire just hours after it was declared. According to the military, they opened fire on Ukrainian positions with anti-tank grenade launchers and small arms. Ukrainian forces, it said, did not return fire.
The longer backdrop
The fighting grew out of the unrest that began at the end of February 2014, after the Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity ousted the Russian-leaning president Viktor Yanukovych. Demonstrations by Russian-backed, pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv and Odesa. That unrest was supported by the Russian military and intelligence services and belongs to the early stages of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
By 28 July 2020, then, the picture was of an agreement that had been reached on paper and was reported broken in practice within hours, with Ukrainian forces holding their fire in response.
