This archive report was first published on 8 November 2019.
On November 8, 2019, Ukraine and Russia agreed to a troop pullback in the Donetsk region, a crucial step towards a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
The summit, which will be mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has been repeatedly postponed due to failed attempts to organize pullbacks of troops.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko expressed hope that the meeting, the first at such a high level since 2016, could take place in Paris in November.
However, Russia has refused to commit to a timetable, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating that it was 'too early to say' whether the meeting could take place this year due to 'many questions' remaining unresolved.
Monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will be observing the disengagement, which could be spread over several days.
Since coming to power in May, comedian-turned-president Zelensky has sought to revive a peace process to end the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine that has claimed some 13,000 lives since 2014.
