How Global is the Ukrainian Conflict?
How Global is the Ukrainian Conflict?

Summary/Abstract: By September 2015 the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-supported separatists in Ukraine’s east has entered the 18th month since its onset. The “hot” conflict has worn down Ukraine’s already struggling economy and is stifling any chances for real reforms that the country desperately needs. September 2015 is also the one year anniversary of the first Minsk ceasefire agreement which aimed to freeze the conflict between Ukraine and the separatist regions in Luhansk and Donetsk. This ceasefire protocol, however, quickly failed and clashes between the two sides flared up again culminating in a second ceasefire agreement being signed in Minsk in February 2015. Yet, despite the international community’s efforts towards a diplomatic solution clashes continue, lives are being lost and over one million people have left their homes as a result of the conflict. Europe and its western allies have instituted sanctions against Russia for its support of the armed conflict while Russia has responded by conducting its largest military exercises since the end of the Cold War. This tenable situation in our region provoked New Eastern Europe to ask the question: to what extent is the conflict in Ukraine a regional matter and to what extent is it a global matter? We polled foreign policy and security experts from the region and around the world for their opinion on this question. While we leave the conclusions to be drawn by the reader, the results show that perspective in conflicts matter.

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