Ukraine

Kyiv and Russia-backed separatists say they have completed a pullback of troops and weapons from a third frontline area in eastern Ukraine. The move is one of a series of confidence-building measures that could pave the way for a four-way summit aimed at ending the conflict in Luhansk and Donetsk regions that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has agreed to hear claims by Ukraine related to the conflict in the east of the country, where Government forces have been fighting mostly pro-Russian separatists, for more than five years. In an application to the Court filed in January, Ukraine alleged that Russia had violated its obligations under two international treaties on terrorism financing and racial discrimination.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has welcomed the withdrawal of Ukrainian and Russia-backed separatist forces from a frontline area in eastern Ukraine, but reiterated calls for Moscow to "withdraw all their troops."

Kyiv government forces and pro-Russian troops have started withdrawing from the eastern Ukrainian town of Zolote. The move is a key precondition for German- and French-mediated talks between Ukraine and Russia.

The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany could hold a summit in Paris in mid-November if Kyiv and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine can maintain a ceasefire, Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Monday (14 October), warning of a “last chance” for Moscow.

Ukraine on Wednesday (9 October) refused to pull back troops in its restive east, saying for the second time this week that continued shelling by pro-Russian separatists there precluded the implementation of a disengagement agreement. Moscow, however, said the door was still open for a fresh meeting of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany (the so-called Normandy Four) … .

Russian troops must leave Russia-occupied east Ukraine, among other conditions, before Kiev agrees to give the self-proclaimed "republics" there greater autonomy, Ukrainian negotiators said in Minsk on Wednesday at a meeting of a Contact Group on the conflict.

The Council has extended the restrictive measures over actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine for a further six months, until 15 March 2020. The measures consist of an asset freeze and travel restrictions. They currently apply to 170 persons and 44 entities.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will deliver his first report on the human rights situation in Russian-annexed Crimea at the international body’s next general assembly, which opens on September 17. The report, published on August 2, says it is “limited to information collected through remote monitoring” because Russia would not give workers from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) access to the occupied Ukrainian peninsula.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday (26 August) that the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France would hold talks in September aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine. “We think that the conditions exist for a useful summit,” Macron, who has hailed the election of a new president in Ukraine as providing an opportunity to end the five-year war, said at the end of the G7 summit in France.