Ukraine's view on Minsk ceasefire: If peace lasts five days we'll be surprised

As soon as the negotiations ended in Minsk, Ukrainians immediately began to doubt whether the agreement proclaimed by Vladimir Putin will ever be implemented.

During the last year Ukrainians have been able to digest the Kremlin's lies at close quarters, and as a result any peace agreement with Russia is viewed as an absurd idea in this country. As soon as we learned the details of the meeting, and what the two sides had 'agreed', questions began to flow.

People asked: 'Where is the new boundary map scheme?', 'How many non-public applications are there?', 'Does President Poroshenko guarantee there are no secret agreements and documents for the division of the country?' and, most important 'is it possible to believe Putin?'

One man I spoke to, 30-year-old Igor Svyrydenko, said: "I think all of us are misinformed, they just say something nice not to tell the truth."

During the last year Ukrainians had a great opportunity to observe a total lie from the Kremlin, and as a result ascertained in absurdity of any peace agreements with Russia. Having learned the first details of the outcome of the meeting, many questions raised right away:

Svyrydenko believes it was essential that Russia recognises its army has taken part in the war against Ukraine. This should have been put forward as a precondition before the negotiations. Yet he is certain that Russia will continue to lie that it's only the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republic's army fighting, not the Russian one.

People simply do not trust anything that comes out of Putin's mouth. We feel that, if Ukraine diverts troops, Putin will simply go on the offensive.

In addition, great attention is attracted to that point of the agreement which states that control of the Ukrainian border will be stored to Ukraine at the end of 2015, after local elections.

First, no-one knows how such elections will be conducted under the domination of the eastern separatists. It is difficult to believe they will obey the Minsk agreements, and allow Ukrainian and international observers to monitor the elections.

Secondly, it seems that these elections will return the same militants to power, so the conflict will continue.

And third, what is the guarantee that the new power over Donbass will allow Ukrainians to control the region, and their border? We feel there will be many more disputes ahead, and these disputes will result in something like the "people's border guards of Donbass", who will work on their own laws.

Yet even though the general expectation is pessimistic and distrustful, and only a few people believe there will be more than 3-5 days of peace, each of us holds a kernel of hope that today's agreement will be respected not only by the Ukrainian side, but also the Russian, and this will filter down to the actions of all militants.

"The main thing is that they will stop bombing and killing our men" says Valeriya, the young wife of a conscript. "The most awful thing which could happen is the failure to sign contracts, which would mean many of our men had been forced to continue fighting in the East and die there for nothing. Thank God, politicians have managed to agree. Now all that remains is to hope that Putin will step back"

At the same time, some are already trying to plan the future and see the light in the distance. People remember the days when Ukrainians were fighting not for independence and peace, but for democracy and freedom from corruption, and prepare to fight for this with a new power.