Editor's Note: On Oct. 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine has agreed to the so-called "Steinmeier Formula," which envisions granting special status to the separatist regions of Donbas following local elections that are supervised by OSCE and international monitors and held within the guidelines of the Ukrainian Constitution. This marks the latest in a series of significant steps toward reviving the Normandy Four format talks to advance negotiations over ending the Ukrainian conflict. However, remaining differences between Ukraine and the separatists/Russia regarding the sequencing of the implementing agreement and other strategic issues remain likely to prevent any meaningful breakthroughs over the Ukrainian conflict in the foreseeable future. On Sept. 18, Ukraine announced it was preparing to pull back its military presence 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) from the roughly 450-kilometer front line in eastern Ukraine on the basis that Russian-backed separatist forces do the same.