Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Kerry on the deployment of UN peacekeepers in the Donbas: We need to make sure that this is not a trap

    During the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting in Kyiv, Former US Secretary of State John Kerry stated that he  is concerned that the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in the combat zone in the Donbas may be unsafe and turn out to be a trap.

    "[With respect to certain UN forces], you have to be really careful that it is not a trap. If you’ve got this exclusively on the line of contact, then this can conceivably become the de facto recognition of this line of contact as meaning …

  • German Foreign Minister: the EU may loosen sanctions on Russia if it fulfills its obligations regarding the peacekeepers in Donbas

    The European Union can ease sanctions if the Russian proposal for the deployment of peacekeepers to the Donbas is quickly implemented, said German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, according to Der Spiegel magazine.

    "If the deployment of peacekeepers is successful and if this can be quickly implemented, then of course we should also take action and ease sanctions," Gabriel said.

    Gabriel added that it is necessary to "quickly begin negotiations in New York" about the deployment of the …

  • LPR: introduction of peacekeepers in the Donbas is a declaration of war

    The representative of the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic” (LPR), Vladyslav Deynego stated that the US State Department proposal to deploy UN peacekeepers throughout the Donbas region would mean "a declaration of war."

    "Any attempt to promote the armed forces on the territory of another state is a declaration of war. Do they want to declare war? They will receive it," Deynego told RBC news agency.

    Deynego has not ruled out that the US State Department would give orders to the UN …

  • Washington expressed its support for deployment of peacekeepers in Donbas

    State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that Washington is in favor of deploying UN peacekeepers to the Donbas, including on the border with Russia, and insists for them to have a broad mandate, Radio Liberty reports.

    "I want to be clear about this.  Any such forces should have a broad mandate, to ensure peace and security throughout the occupied territory of Ukraine, up to and including the border with Russia ...," Nauert said. She recalled that Germany, like the other EU states, …

  • Russia agrees to deploy peacekeepers outside the demarcation line in Donbas

    Russia has agreed that the UN peacekeeping mission should have access not only to the line of demarcation in the Donbas, but also to other territory where OSCE  conducts its inspection visits.

    This was stated in a message from the Kremlin's press service, following phone discussions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    "Taking into account the views expressed by Angela Merkel, the Russian leader noted his readiness to supplement the functions of the UN …

  • Zakharchenko: The ideal option for a peaceful resolution with Ukraine is independence for the DPR

    In an interview with NTV, Alexander Zakharchenko, the head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), has said he is not satisfied with a new law on the reintegration of the Donbas that is being prepared by the Ukrainian government.

    "The ideal option for a peaceful resolution is [for us] to gain independence, and for Kyiv to recognize it. Thus we would be able to decide for ourselves who we want to live with, how we want to live, with whom we will be friends, [and] which state to join," …

  • Ukrainian military command: 6,000 Russian troops are stationed in the Donbas

    Russian military personnel, including the leadership of the army continue to travel to the separatist-held territories of the Donbas. There are currently about six thousand Russian servicemen in the Donbas, said the speaker of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Vladyslav Seleznyov, in an interview with Radio Liberty.

    "Up to 6,000 Russian servicemen are located in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donbas and up to 40,000 Russian militants, as well as local misfits who …

  • Putin’s aide Surkov turns down US request to relocate Donbas talks from Minsk to Belgrade

    On August 21, during a meeting in Minsk with Russian President Vladimir Putin's aide, Vladislav Surkov, US Special Representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker suggested that Moscow consider relocating negotiations on the Donbas from Minsk to Belgrade, Novosti Donbassa (News of Donbass) news website reported, citing its own source.

    Surkov refused, said the website’s source.

    It is noted that the potential relocation of the negotiations to another city would be connected to the increase in cases of …

  • Polish Foreign Ministry: UN peacekeepers in Donbas need to be deployed on the border with Russia

    The deployment of UN peacekeeping forces in the Donbas is possible only with the consent of and close cooperation with the Ukrainian authorities, as stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, reports Onet.pl.

    "The appropriate place for the presentation and preparation of such initiatives is the UN Security Council, and we expect concrete proposals at the Council meeting ... A necessary condition for the success of such a mission would be the preparation of a mandate [of the UN …

  • Ukrainian official: Russia will withdraw from Donbas next year

    Russia will leave the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions next year as plans for this have already been made, as explained by the Deputy Minister on the issues of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, Yuri Grymchak in an interview with Apostrophe.

    "First, we have the so-called Protocol on the Minsk Agreements implementation dated February 12, 2015, where in paragraph 10 it is stated that according to the Minsk Agreements the following should …