KYIV – During the last two weeks in Ukraine, worrying headline-making developments connected with the disengagement of military forces in the Donbas were overtaken by others focused on the wartorn southeast of the country and economic and security prospects. They saw, among other events, a major public relations and promotional exercise by the Ukrainian government in Mariupol designed to build confidence in Ukraine and attract foreign investors and donors, and the visit to the country by NATO’s secretary general and a delegation of alliance members.
Initially, a new scandal broke out involving a videofilmed altercation on October 26 between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a representative of Ukrainian irregulars on the Donbas frontline in Zolote who are opposed to the disengagement of forces that has been agreed to within the Minsk peace-making process. There was a blunt exchange between the two, with the Ukrainian leader using very direct language while attempting to put his equally forthright interlocutor in his place.