Over 40 countries are ready to participate in a peacekeeping operation in the occupied territory of Donbas, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.
"At present, more than 40 countries have agreed to participate in a peacekeeping operation," Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian TV channels on the evening of 13 April.
He noted that "the issue of peacekeepers is extremely important" to Ukraine.
"A year and a half ago the world did not even want to listen about peacekeepers – they said it was very expensive, several billion dollars... no-one will go to Ukraine to help Ukraine establish peace as a key element of the Minsk agreements and bring the territories occupied by Russia back under Ukrainian sovereignty," Poroshenko said.
In his words, he asked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to send a special mission to Donbas to assess the cost, required number and time framework for a peacekeeping mission.
"I will do my best for the mission to be deployed in 2018," he added.