30 December 2015, 13:40 GMT
DONETSK (Sputnik) — The deployment of peacekeeping missions in conflict-hit eastern Ukraine is unacceptable as it would only escalate the crisis, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said Monday.
On Sunday, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko told Ukrainian Apostrophe news website that Kiev would intensify efforts on deployment of peacekeepers into the country's crisis-torn eastern region during Ukraine's non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council (UNSC).
"The deployment of any peacekeeping missions in Donbass remains unacceptable as the presence of a third force will only escalate the conflict," Alexander Zakharchenko told RIA Novosti.
A military conflict broke out in Ukraine in April 2014 after Kiev launched a military operation to suppress militias in southeastern Ukraine, who refused to recognize the country’s new government after it came to power in a February 2014 coup.
The idea of sending foreign military forces to Ukraine has been discussed since February, 2015, when Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko requested the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Donbass.
