The bill on the restoration of Ukraine's sovereignty in Donbas is 99 per cent ready and will be submitted to the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) when the introduction of a peacekeeping mission to Donbas is agreed, the presidential representative to parliament, Iryna Lutsenko, has said.
"This bill is ready for 99 per cent, the only thing that is still unclear is the inclusion of a peacekeeping mission, the issue which the president will raise in his speech at the UN General Assembly late September... I think as soon as we are determined on the issue of a peacekeeping mission, the NSDC will consider the document," she said.
She recalled that Ukraine is considering three options for the deployment of peacekeepers: an OSCE police mission, a UN mission, or a European police mission. The mission will need to be deployed across the entire occupied territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in the so-called "gray zone" and at the Ukrainian-Russian border.
According to Lutsenko, the final document will be submitted to parliament before the beginning of October.
"I think that upon further consultations with our Normandy Four partners such an item will be included in the accords and will be presented for consideration and discussion in parliament," she added.
Ukraine has been calling for a peacekeeping mission to Donbas for two years.
In early March 2015, Poroshenko signed a decree under which Ukraine would ask the UN Security Council to deploy peacekeepers to Donbas.
In June 2015, parliament adopted a law regulating a possible international peacekeeping and security operation in Ukraine by expanding the grounds for the admission and stay of foreign army units on the territory of Ukraine.
A year later, Ukraine expressed concerns over the lack of action on the part of the UN Security Council in response to a direct request from Kyiv to deploy a UN peacekeeping mission to the occupied regions of Donbas.
Poroshenko plans to raise the issue again at a session of the UN General Assembly in September.