Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has announced requirements the observance of which is mandatory for the deployment of a peacekeeping mission to Donbas.
They include the withdrawal of the occupying troops from Donbas and the absence of Russian personnel in the mission.
"Any international peacekeeping presence should be made with the consent and after exhaustive consultations with the Ukrainian side, envisage the withdrawal of all occupying troops and mercenaries and their weapons from the territory of Ukraine and ensure reliable control of the Russian-Ukrainian border to prevent the entry of Russian military, weapons, equipment and mercenaries on the territory of Ukraine," the ministry said in response to a statement Russian President Volodymyr Putin made earlier in the day.
"If a decision is made to deploy a peacekeeping operation (PCO), the presence of military or other personnel of the aggressor party in the territory of Ukraine under the guise of peacekeepers is out of questions, since this will contradict the basic principles of UN peacekeeping activities. Likewise, there can be no question of obtaining consent to conduct PCO from illegal armed formations operating in the territory of the breakaway territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions with the support, financing and material support from the Russian Federation," the ministry's statement reads.
The ministry rejected Putin's proposal to deploy peacekeepers only at the contact line as it is distorting the very idea of a peacekeeping operation and will not serve the main goal, that is to establish sustainable peace and restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Nevertheless, Ukraine is ready to discuss this issue and instructed its permanent mission to the UN to hold consultations with the delegations of the UN Security Council.
The ministry also stressed that the strict observance by the Russian side of the ceasefire regime announced at the end of August should create favorable conditions for the start of a dialogue aimed at the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas.