Zelenskyy agrees to Steinmeier formula
A deal announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to allow local elections in “separatist”-held parts of eastern Ukraine under certain security conditions has triggered a backlash, including protests, in Ukraine and praise from the Kremlin. Opposition politicians and their supporters in Ukraine on October 2 showed their disdain for the deal, brokered in Minsk with Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which a day earlier Mr. Zelenskyy said would pave the way for peace talks with Moscow to end the war in the Donbas that has killed more than 13,000 since April 2014. He added there would be no elections in militant-held areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions until all armed formations have left the area and Ukraine regains control over about 400 kilometers of borderland with Russia.