The deal agreed by Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko in Minsk yesterday provides a ray of hope that the conflict in eastern Ukraine might be moving towards a settlement. But it would be foolish to view the pact more optimistically than that. After a testy 16-hour negotiation, the Russian and Ukrainian presidents have at least settled on a framework to end the fighting that has taken more than 5,000 lives. However, a similar agreement signed in the Belarusian capital in September swiftly collapsed. And any optimism about Minsk II requires a leap of faith that Mr Putin has suddenly become serious about repairing his relations with Ukraine and the west.
弗拉迪米爾•普丁(Vladimir Putin)和彼得羅•波羅申科(Petro Poroshenko)昨日在明斯克達成的協議，爲烏克蘭東部的衝突可能走向和解提供了一線希望。但是，如果以更加樂觀的態度看待這一協議，那將是愚蠢的。經過持續16個小時的緊張談判，俄羅斯和烏克蘭總統至少就結束已經奪走逾5000人生命的交戰談成了一個框架。然而，去年9月在白俄羅斯首都簽署的類似協議很快就崩潰了。對於「明斯克協議第二版」的任何樂觀情緒，都需要一種「信仰飛躍」，即相信普丁突然間對於修復他與烏克蘭和西方的關係變得認真了。