Ukrainian Prime Minister calls for peacekeepers in the Donbas
In his speech for the Day of Ukrainian Peacekeepers, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman called for a peacekeeping mission to be brought to the Donbas.
“It is already the fourth year of the Russian aggression in Ukrainian territory, from which our soldiers and civilians die on a daily basis, from which the country is bearing unprecedented human, infrastructural and economic losses. Under such circumstances, our state as a reliable partner of the international peacekeeping mission calls on the world community to resolve the terrible conflict which is continuing in Eastern Europe – in the Ukrainian Donbas. We are grateful to the OSCE’s international peacekeeping mission for the active involvement in stopping the terrorist act, however, as we see, the Russian terrorist forces which have occupied part of the territory of our state, ignore any agreement to cease fire and withdraw heavy weaponry. That is why today the consolidation of the international community is important, and the implementation of a reinforced peacekeeping mission in the separate temporarily uncontrolled regions of the Luhansk and Donetsk provinces,” Groysman’s address states.
On the morning of April 23, an American citizen died as a result of a mine explosion in LPR-controlled territory in the Luhansk province.
On the evening of the same day, President Petro Poroshenko had a phone call with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. During the discussion, Poroshenko suggested that they start to consider the deployment of an international peacekeeping contingent in the Donbas under the auspices of the UN.
On April 25, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that bringing peacekeepers to the Donbas is not envisaged by the Minsk agreements.