The Political Director of the European External Action Service, Enrique Mora Benavente, said, on Tuesday 28 July, that the ceasefire in place since the previous day in eastern Ukraine was “more or less” working.
At least three violations were reported, but there were no victims for the first time in awhile, he added.
“I remember one ambassador saying that ceasefires were a kind of weekend habit that was quickly broken on Monday. Let’s see if this time it’s different”, he stressed during a discussion on the theme ‘Minsk Process: progressive success or political deadlock?’
The EU representative reiterated that this ceasefire was the first adoption of a measure taken at the Normandy Format Summit in Paris last December, regretting that it had taken “a few months” to agree on only one of the measures decided upon.
“We are far away from peace or the recovery of sovereignty in Donbass”, he acknowledged.
While highlighting the steps taken by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to resolve the conflict, Mr Mora Benavente regretted that Russia was not doing the same.
For him, Mr Zelensky’s measures must be accompanied by reform efforts, particularly to improve the economy. “This would probably be one of the best answers to recover Ukraine’s sovereignty”, he explained, adding that this would require reforms related to the Rule of law.
“For the EU, advancing reforms, modernising Ukraine, making it a functioning market economy is one of the most important subjects President Zelensky has to deal with during his mandate to deal with the conflict”, he added.
According to the EU representative, it is also necessary to look at the situation as a whole, at Russia’s strategic and geopolitical intentions, which, in his view, could perhaps lead to a better approach to resolving the conflict. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)