Last year, on August 6, 2019, just three weeks after a ceasefire had been agreed, Russia-backed forces opened fire at Ukrainian military positions, using grenade-launchers, machine guns and assault rifles. During the preceding week, four Ukrainian soldiers – Oleksandr Sharko (1988-2019), Vladislav Rak (1998-2019), Serhiy Shandra (1995-2019) and Vasyl Kurdov (1999-2019) – were killed in the fighting, which marked the highest daily death toll since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took office.
The ceasefire agreement was reached in Minsk on July 17 by Ukrainian and Russian envoys, as well as members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, (the three parties comprise the Trilateral Contact Group). The ceasefire was to go into effect on July 22, but nothing changed from previous attempts in September 2014 and in February 2015, in addition to the 22 violated truces that had been agreed to since the beginning of the war.