Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has secured a temporary peace in the troubled east which he says gives him a chance to move Ukraine toward its dream of a place in Europe, but Russia's Vladimir Putin still holds cards that could thwart him.
And, a month away from a parliamentary election which he hopes will bring a strong coalition of support for sweeping reforms, Poroshenko's peace plan is coming under greater criticism at home — even from some of his erstwhile allies.
A U.S. refusal to provide Kiev with high-precision weaponry required to beat Russian-backed separatists on the battlefield, and the European Union's move to defer implementation of part of a key pact with Ukraine to appease Moscow have spelled the clear message that Western support for Kiev has its limits.