Formal political agreements cannot let us, any of us, forget Maidan and what brought people together to the square to live and die together.
Poroshenko was in Brussels today to sign the free trade agreement with the European Union. He said his country has paid the highest possible price to achieve this agreement. However, it seems to me clear that the free trade agreement is what the EU leaders present in Brussels are concerned about, whereas Poroshenko continued to emphasise that: "Half of Donetsk province and one third of Luhansk province is a zone of war." "There are no banks open. No pensions are being paid. There is no water, electricity. Lots of people with weapons are on the streets. People are afraid to go outside."
Now that they have their Free Trade agreement, what will the EU do for Ukrainians? At least more than Russia, but I do not have faith that free trade will 'liberate' Ukrainians from decades of poverty and social struggle.
Only the commitment to the spirit of Maidan, and continuing to raise voices as Ukrainians -- politicised and active -- will be able to reflect a new and changed Ukraine. And this is up to Ukrainians and us 'observers' around the world to remember the struggle, remember those who have died and remember that no leader, no politician, no political deal will be an answer or a solution.
Four of representatives of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation special monitoring mission in Eastern Ukraine were freed today. This is after being held for 32 days in captivity. Separatists are still holding 180 prisoners. This includes eight more individuals captured yesterday.
In other news, the Ukrainian national security council has extended Kyiv's ceasefire in the east of the country by 12 hours in an apparent attempt to jump-start negotiations. The ceasefire was due to end at 10am on Friday, but the deadline was moved to 10pm today after the tentative truce broke down this week.
Putin is being praised for having the Russian parliament rescind its authorization for the use of force in Ukraine. However, he has in the meantime promised to continue to 'defend' ethnic Russians and others in Ukraine and elsewhere. Putin has admitted that Moscow 'used our armed forces in order to guarantee the freedom of the expression of the will of Crimeans' and to 'block certain armed formations of the Ukrainian army'. This is the clearest acknowledgement of Russian orchestration of the so-called Crimean referendum.
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