Poroshenko Calls on EU to Send Military Experts to Donbas

Ukrainian President Poroshenko called on the EU to send military experts to participate in the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination in Donbas.

KIEV (Sputnik) — In a phone conversation with European Council President Donald Tusk on Thursday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko suggested sending a mission of European Union's military experts to Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region.

“Petro Poroshenko also suggested that the European Union sends a mission of EU military experts to participate in the work of the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination (JCCC),” a statement on Poroshenko’s website said.

Poroshenko and Tusk also discussed ways of handling the situation in eastern Ukraine and possible further sanctions against Russia, and Tusk accepted Poroshenko’s invitation to visit Kiev on February 22, according to the statement.

The JCCC was established by the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine in October last year, and includes Ukrainian and Russian officers, and representatives of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The center, which was previously located in the town of Debaltseve between Ukraine’s two breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, has been temporarily relocated to the town of Soledar amid a recent upsurge of hostilities in Debaltseve.

On Wednesday, Poroshenko called for the presence of EU peacekeepers in eastern Ukraine, where a renewed ceasefire deal between Kiev and local militias entered into force over the weekend.