Donbass War in Ukraine May Be Ending

The six-year war in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine may be coming to a close, as a comprehensive cease-fire between the Russian-supported rebels and the Ukrainian government takes effect on July 28, 2020.

The war began in 2014 with a rebellion in the Donbass area of Ukraine, which is largely populated by ethnic Russians.  The government of Vladimir Putin, Russia’s autocratic leader provided extensive support for the Donbass rebels, to the point that Russian military forces, and irregular forces from Russia engaged in combat with the Ukrainians.  The Russo-Ukrainian Conflict also spread to the Crimea, where Russia occupied and annexed that southern Ukrainian Peninsula in 2014.

The cease-fire agreement was brokered by the Tripartite Contact Group that includes representatives of Russia, Ukraine, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.  If this cessation of hostilities remains permanent, then it will end a conflict that has claimed over 14,000 lives, including the 298 civilians killed in the shootdown of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014 by forces inside separatist territory.  A lot of evidence points to the shootdown being done by a Russian Army anti-aircraft unit, but Russia denies this.  

Interestingly, this conflict also featured foreign fighters from several pro-Russian nations and groups that fought on the side of the Donbass insurgents.  Some of these groups include right-wing nationalist fighters from Serbia, Hungary, and Russian-born Germans, among others. 

The Ukrainian side has enjoyed on-and-off again aid from the West, including the United States, and in one incident where the Ukrainian president was seeking American assistance, the U.S. president, Donald Trump, allegedly tried to tie a quid pro quo to American aid; he sought a Ukrainian investigation into the son of Trump’s political rival for the presidency, Joe Biden. The revelation of this allegation sparked impeachment hearings and an impeachment trial of President Trump in 2019 and early 2020.

The Donbass War and the related Russo-Ukrainian Conflict has raged for over six years, and cost thousands of lives.  If this cease-fire truly holds on, that would leave part of eastern Ukraine in the hands of the separatist insurgents, but would finally bring peace to a war-torn region of eastern Europe.