The Ukrainian Government announced Friday it signed a preliminary protocol to start a ceasefire with pro-Russian rebels.
Brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Minsk, Belarus, the ceasefire went into effect at 6 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Central). Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed the agreement on Twitter:
Віддаю наказ начальнику Генерального штабу Збройних Сил України припинити вогонь починаючи з 18.00 5 вересня. pic.twitter.com/zb58uuEbVg
— Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) September 5, 2014
The ceasefire comes hours after NATO unveiled plans for a new multi-lateral task force in Eastern Europe that could mobilize quickly should an alliance member come under attack. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the task force aims to travel light, and strike hard.
While both the ceasefire and task force are important steps, there are no simple solutions to the crisis in Ukraine, says Rebecca Cruise, World Views panelist and Assistant Dean of the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
“About a million people are displaced,” Cruise says. “250,000 to 300,000 have gone over into Russia. Estonia has an estimated 20,000 people who have entered that country. President Obama was there this week promising Estonia that they were keeping an eye out and would not let this conflict bleed over. But also Poland, Finland, and Sweden are taking in refugees.”
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