In eastern Ukraine, the cost of peace may still be too high for Volodymyr Zelenskiy

A recent reshuffling of top officials in both Ukraine and Russia indicates that both sides could be ready for a new approach to break a stalemate in the Donbas conflict in eastern Ukraine. But the prospect of the occupied territories reintegrating back to Ukraine still seems like an unattainable dream. The conflict in Donbas, which began in 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and Ukraine’s Euromaidan revolution , has claimed approximately 14,000 lives to date and continues to hinder and deter long-term investment prospects. Initially triggered by then-president Viktor Yanukovych’s pivot away from signing an association agreement with the EU, the ongoing fighting in the Donbas, which...