Minsk Protocol

A map of the buffer zone established by the Minsk Protocol follow-up memorandum

The Minsk agreements were a series of international agreements which sought to end the Donbas War fought between armed Russian separatist groups, backed by Russian regular forces, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. By August 2014, Ukraine had re-taken most of the territory seized by separatists. Russia then covertly invaded the Donbas to support the separatists, inflicting a heavy defeat on the Ukrainians at Ilovaisk. Peace talks were held in Minsk, Belarus. The talks involved the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, consisting of representatives of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), with mediation by the leaders of France (François Hollande) and Germany (Angela Merkel) in the so-called Normandy Format. In September 2014, the first Minsk Protocol, or Minsk I, was signed by representatives of the Trilateral Contact Group and, without recognition of their status, by the then-leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR).