More than four years have passed since the armed conflict between the Ukrainian army and the pro-Russian rebels began in the east of Ukraine, and especially in the Donbass region. A tangible truce seems yet finally to be settling today, with the withdrawal of troops from both sides along the front line. This is mainly due to the initiative of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government.
Since 2014, the two sides clashed in an armed conflict, leading to nearly 13 thousand deaths and including more than 3 thousand civilians[1]. The conflict resulted from the ethnic and above all cultural and linguistic differences between the eastern regions of the country and the western ones. It was followed by referendums in the two provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk together forming the Donbass region, that then proclaimed their independence, stoking the anger of the capital[2].
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[1] https://www.un.org/press/fr/2019/cs13698.doc.htm
[2] https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/the-other-referendum-in-eastern-ukraine/
