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Ukraine to seek broad mandate for peacekeepers in Donbas

Blue helmets should be allowed to use weapons and not just for self-defence.

Ukraine to seek broad mandate for peacekeepers in Donbas
Photo: UN Photo / Marco Dorminy

Ukraine will require an expanded mandate for a peacekeeping mission in Donbas, the president's representative in parliament, Iryna Lutsenko, said at the agenda-setting council on Monday, 18 September.

"The president will address the UN Security Council and the General Assembly on Wednesday. At the Security Council, the president will insist on an expanded mandate for UN peacekeepers that will allow blue helmets to use weapons if necessary and not just for self-defence," Lutsenko said.

Among the basic requirements, Ukraine wants a peacekeeping mission to be deployed across the entire uncontrolled territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and along the uncontrolled sector of the Ukrainian-Russian border; coercion to mine clearance and withdrawal of Russian troops and instructors.

Russia tabled a resolution on the deployment of a security mission to protect OSCE monitors.

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