This month marks the tenth anniversary of the Second Minsk Agreements, a series of agreements forced upon Ukraine by Russia after a series of military defeats. The agreements were an unsuccessful attempt to end the conflict that followed Russia’s de facto annexation of Ukraine’s Donbas territories.
The Minsk Agreements were also intended to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine. Both parties repeatedly broke the agreements, Russia egregiously so. Then, on February 22, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally pronounced the Minsk Agreements dead and two days later, invaded Ukraine.
“Russia signed these agreements but never implemented any of the commitments it agreed to – not a single one. Not the Minsk Protocol, or the Minsk Package of Measures, not the scores of interventions negotiated by the Trilateral Contact Group,” said John Kelley, Acting U.S. Alternate Representative to the United Nations.
“These commitments included agreements on ceasefire, the withdrawal of ‘foreign military forces’ from Ukraine’s sovereign territory, the disbanding of illegal armed groups in eastern Ukraine that received support from Russia, and the return of control of the Ukrainian side of the international border to Ukraine. Russia did none of these things,” he said.
“Instead, Russia consistently and repeatedly worked to undermine the fundamental purpose of the Minsk agreements, escalated the fighting, and undermined international monitoring efforts.”
The United States wants “a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” said Ambassador Kelley. “But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective.”
“Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering. A durable peace for Ukraine must include robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again.”
However, there is no questioning the fundamental, undeniable facts that “Ukraine is a sovereign, independent country, and Russia’s illegal war of conquest violates the UN Charter,” said Ambassador Kelley.
“Russia must immediately end its war against Ukraine, which not only violates international law but was also a strategic error for Russia. The easy way out is through negotiations – now. If Russia instead chooses the hard way, it will incur greater and escalating costs to its economy and losses on the battlefield.”
“The United States … is committed to ending the carnage and restoring stability to Europe,” said Ambassador Kelley. “Ukraine, Russia and our European partners need to be part of the conversation.”
