Ukrainian President calls for deployment of peacekeepers in Donbas
President Petro Poroshenko is convinced that a peacekeeping operation under the robust UN mandate will help restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, said the head of the state at a high-level event to support the UN peacekeeping activity on Tuesday, September 25 in New York, Interfax Ukraine reports.
“I am confident that an UN-mandated multinational peacekeeping operation with the only clear goal to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity could be a decisive factor in ending sufferings of Ukrainian people. We believe that there is no better way but dispatching such an operation, under the robust UN mandate,” Poroshenko noted.
The president of Ukraine expressed his gratitude to Germany, France and the US “for mobilizing international support of this initiative”.
“Only Russia opposes peacekeepers. One reason for that is that the Kremlin is afraid. It is afraid that the peacekeepers will capture Russian military manpower and military assets all over the occupied territory. They are also afraid of losing control over Ukraine border with Russia,” Petro Poroshenko said.
The president recalled his request to the UN to deploy peacekeeping forces in the Donbas, but his request has not been addressed.
Poroshenko said that according to the UN data there are 35,000 who were affected by of the war in the Donbas, with more than 10,000 killed. The head of the state noted that the number of internally displaced people exceeds 1.5 million people.