In Ukraine, U.S. vice president announces more U.S. money and intervention in Ukraine

The language used by Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in wrapping up the visit illustrates the shift of messaging by the NATO military alliance and its subordinates in Kyiv which began in August 2015. At that time, Kyiv’s civil war in eastern Ukraine and the state of the country as a whole was one of utter exhaustion. Simultaneously, the large, European powers wanted a cooling of the fighting because bigger concerns were looming for them in the Middle East. A cooling of Kyiv’s military aggression in the east of the country was formalized by a ceasefire renewal on September 1.

But this left the thorny issue of the Minsk-2 ceasefire agreement on the table. Specifically, there are 13 clauses of the Feb 12, 2015 agreement which the Ukrainian and Western signators were failing to implement. And let’s remember that Minsk-2 was endorsed by no less than the UN Security Council on February 17, five days after its signing in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

Kyiv ignored the agreement following the signing. Yes, its daily shellings of civilians cooled for a few weeks, but then they returned. That was violation number one of the agreement. Meanwhile, nothing was being done to implement the other 12 clauses. What to do about Minsk-2 in August, then, when Kyiv had neither the capacity nor the continued support from the European Union to fully prosecute its civil war? Might this mean that Western media and governments would be obliged to report on the progress, or not, with Minsk-2, something they had been neglecting to do? What about, for example, the presence of U.S., British and Canadian military forces in Ukraine? Clause ten of Minsk-2 reads: "Withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, as well as mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine under monitoring of the OSCE. Disarmament of all illegal groups.”

The answer for the violators of Minsk-2 has been to wrap themselves in its mantle. They continue to violate the terms of the agreement by failing to implement its 13 clauses, but the way out of that public relations dilemma is to turn the tables and say that Russia is guilty of violating the agreement. After all, Western media is doing such a miserable job of reporting on Minsk-2 and on the situation in eastern Ukraine and in the rest of the country, who would know otherwise?

Russia is accused by Biden of "annexing” Crimea and being an "aggressor” in eastern Ukraine. Even if this were true, Minsk-2 sets out a political process to resolve such concerns. Or at least, that’s what the UN Security Council decided on February 17 of this year when it endorsed Minsk-2. The 13-clause agreement includes the following measures:

• A total cessation of shellings and other military attacks in eastern Ukraine and a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the ceasefire line of demarcation.
• Withdrawal of foreign military forces from Ukraine.
• An end to the economic blockade of eastern Ukraine by Kyiv and a restoration of the social payments by the Ukrainian government to its nominal citizens in Donetsk and Lugansk (Donbas region).
• Formal recognition of a mutually-agreed political autonomy for the territories of Donetsk and Lugansk.

And so on. Background to the Minsk-2 ceasefire agreement, including the full text, is here.

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