Peace still holds weeks after Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko mediated a deal between the rebelling Wagner mercenary group and the Russian state, despite Vladimir Putin’s precedent of imprisoning or killing his opponents.

Pavel Felgenhauer, a military analyst from Moscow, told Al Jazeera that the parties, with Lukashenko’s help, agreed to “freeze” the situation. Rather than a desire for peace, he said, it’s likely that the ceasefire is because Putin and the Kremlin are not able to take on Wagner right now, with Ukrainian counterattacks making back ground. Still, although the ceasefire is “uneasy,” Felgenhauer said, “both sides are more or less holding it.”

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has consistently been critical of the Russian government since it declared war on Ukraine. There are multiple accounts of Prigozhin publicly attacking military officials for their handling of the war, especially regarding their overall tactics and their treatment of Wagner troops. This all came to a head when Wagner marched on and captured multiple Russian cities, embarrassing Putin and causing confusion around the world. Even more confusing was the fact that Lukashenko brokered a peace deal on the same day, with no clear indication of what exactly happened or what the ceasefire agreement entailed.

The situation is far from over, but peace between the two groups seems to be holding for now. In the meantime, global focus and support need to remain on the war on Ukraine, which has raged on for well over a year now with major losses on both sides. However, the success of Ukraine’s counterinitiative proves that the nation has a real chance to push Russia out, regaining their independence and, hopefully, ending the war within the coming months. We ought to grant it the support it needs to do so. Putin’s power-hungry grab to disrupt the free lives of millions of people that he has no control over needs to be stopped.

We will have to wait and see what happens, but hopefully tensions between Prigozhin and the Kremlin will have calmed enough to keep another long conflict from breaking out by the time the war in Ukraine ends. Once done, we can all can put this chapter of global history behind us and reflect to create a new world – one focused on collaboration and co-operation, not competition and self-gain. The creation of such a world won’t be easy, but if the Wagner-Kremlin deal holds, this could be a real chance for the region to see long-standing peace.