Ukraine’s FM, UN Chief to Discuss Sending Peacekeepers to Donbas

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will discuss with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon possible deployment of peacekeepers.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will present Kiev's position regarding the potential deployment of a peacekeeping mission to southeastern Ukraine at his Monday meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the ministry's spokesman said.

"The Ukrainian side will present the key elements of a possible mission to sustain peace and thus officially inform the UN of our intention and our request to start working on the formation of such mission," Alexei Makeyev said on the Ukrainian 112 TV channel.

According to the ministry, Klimkin will also speak at the Monday UN Security Council debates on the maintenance of international peace and security.

On February 18, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council secretary Oleksandr Turchynov announced plans to request the United Nations and the European Union to deploy peacekeepers at the line of contact between the Kiev forces and the independence militias of Donetsk and Luhansk and at the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Russia's envoy to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said Kiev's request would cast doubt on the Ukrainian government's intention to adhere to the agreements, reached in Minsk earlier in February. The deal, brokered by Russia, France and Germany, has no mention of peacekeepers.

On Friday, Ban told Klimkin that sending peacekeepers to Ukraine would be up to the UN Security Council.