One-sided ‘truce’: first blunder of Poroshenko?

UKRAINE - In Brief 29 Jun 2014 by Dmytro Boyarchuk

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Last week president Poroshenko announced truce for the sake of peaceful resolution of conflict at the East. In general, this step was perceived skeptically (just as a nod towards the West) since none believes in Kremlin’s desire to resume peace. Putin wants Ukraine to be destabilized and peaceful plan is not among his real priorities. No doubt that truce appeared to be obligatory only for Ukrainian army not for separatists who continued actions: through the week more than 20 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, one helicopter was shot-down, few railway bridges were blown-up, considerable reinforcement from Russia to the terrorists was observed. Against this backdrop society and the army was in eager anticipation of the end of this useless ‘truce’ which was effectively used only to reinforce Russian terrorists. But on Friday, June 27 when martial law was expected to be approved Poroshenko announced continuation of the ‘truce’ for the next 72 hours. There were suggested different explanations for this step like demand of Western leaders, but it is difficult to describe people’s disappointment with this president decision (who was elected to resolve problem with the East ASAP). No surprise, volunteers from National Guard reacted promptly for such strange play of new president and today came to the President Office demanding explanations. We do not know what might happen tomorrow (when ‘truce’ will end) but if Poroshenko tries tomorrow to continue ‘truce’ even for the next few hours (even on demand of Obama or Merkel) – he will have serious problems. Soldiers already are deeply disappointed with performance of general staff. Many believe top officials are sabotaging military op...