Ukraine to press for deployment of UN peacekeepers in Donbas


Kyiv intends to press for the consideration of the possible deployment of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas, Ukraine’s new Permanent Representative to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko said on Monday. 

“We have a definite plan of action, and we know what we will do in the first place. This will be linked one way or another with the situation in Donbas. Namely – in the context of the possible deployment of a peacekeeping mission in the east of Ukraine,” he said.

“We are ready to discuss the mandate and other aspects of such a [peacekeeping] operation. In order to analyze the situation on the ground we invite the assessment mission of the UN Secretariat to visit Ukraine,” Yelchenko told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon while presenting his credentials on January 4, the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN said in a statement on its website.

Volodymyr Yelchenko, who  served as Ukrainian Ambassador to Russia during the annexation of Crimea, was appointed Ukraine’s permanent representative at the United Nations in December, 2015.

Meanwhile, illegal armed groups in Donbas opened provocative fire on Ukrainian troops participating in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) 20 times from 06:00 local time on Monday to 06:00 local time on Tuesday, Interfax-Ukraine reports with reference to ATO press center.

The Kremlin and Vladimir Putin in particular denied the involvement of Russian troops in the conflict for many months.

Belsat.eu, following TASS, Interfax-Ukraine

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