DISINFO: The West hopes that the 30-day truce will resemble the 2014-2015 Minsk agreements
SUMMARY
The West hopes that the [30-day] truce will resemble the Minsk agreements, giving Ukraine a chance to rearm and recoup its military losses before resuming fighting later, something that is being openly discussed in Kyiv.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Minsk Agreements, from 2014 and 2015, trying to legitimise Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine by implying that Kyiv refused to implement them. This claim was made in the context of the proposal for a 30-day truce agreed by the US and Ukraine during their Jeddah talks and also portrays Western countries as warmongering.
Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it was a party to the Minsk agreements, and these are the most recent formal documents in which Russia has affirmed Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
However, Russia has not delivered on its Minsk agreements commitments. Russia and its proxies have failed to implement a ceasefire, withdraw all heavy weapons, implement all-for-all political prisoner exchange, or ensure delivery of humanitarian assistance based on an international mechanism. On the contrary, Russia has been strengthening the illegal armed formations in eastern Ukraine. Russia also did not allow for unfettered access to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission monitors, including to the Ukraine-Russia border, where the (very limited) monitoring mission was discontinued due to a Russian veto in summer 2021.
Nevertheless, Ukraine implemented as much of the Minsk agreements as could reasonably be done while not having control over the territory. It has passed – and extended with renewals – legislation on special status and amnesty (2014), and prepared draft legislation on local elections (2014). Ukraine passed constitutional amendments to provide more autonomy to the territories currently outside its control (2015).
The EU has consistently expressed support for a just and lasting peace based on international law and Ukraine’s sovereignty. At the Special European Council of 6 March 2025 EU leaders highlighted that for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine the following principles should be respected:
-there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine
-there can be no negotiations that affect European security without Europe’s involvement
-any truce or ceasefire can only take place as part of a process leading to a comprehensive peace agreement
-any peace agreement needs to be accompanied by robust and credible security guarantees for Ukraine that contribute to deterring future Russian aggression
-peace must respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Kyiv did not comply with the Minsk Agreements, that Kyiv never respected the Minsk Agreements, used them to attack and rearm, that Merkel and Hollande admitted that the Minsk Agreements were to prepare Ukraine for war, that Minsk agreements were signed only to buy time and arm Ukraine for war on Russia, that Ukraine and the West did not intend to observe the Minsk agreements, or that Kyiv refused to implement the Minsk agreements and conducted a genocide in Donbas.