Ukraine’s foreign ministry: We will insist on deployment of UN peacekeepers in Donbass

Ukraine will insist on deployment of international peacekeepers in Donbass.

LETA quotes spokesman of Ukraine’s foreign ministry Yevgeniy Perebiynis as saying that it would not be bad if independent UN peacekeepers monitored the fulfillment of the peace agreements.

Concerning Russia’s reaction to this initiative, Perebiynis notes that the Russians will have to explain their behavior if they veto the initiative at the UN.

“We are going to suggest that the UN should send an assessment mission to Donbass. Shortly the UN will discuss our proposal. So, I believe that very soon we will take more specific steps on the level of the UN Secretary General. Particularly, we believe that today there are all grounds for the UN to send an assessment mission to Ukraine, so, they could see what exactly they will have to monitor,” Perebiynis said.

As EAD reported earlier, on Mar 17 the Supreme Rada supported a presidential decree to ask the UN Security Council and the EU Council to send peacekeepers to Donbass.

Russia says that no peacekeepers can be deployed in the region without consent of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics. “We are polite people and we are ready to discuss the proposals of our Ukrainian colleagues when we meet next time. On the other hand, we also see no sense in discussing ideas that are not mentioned in the Minsk agreements in the absence of Donetsk and Lugansk representatives. We cannot discuss any peacekeeping in Ukraine’s conflict zone with no regard for their view,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Apr 6.

Earlier, Lavrov said that Russia would not support Ukraine’s initiative if it was put to the UN’s vote.