Washington expressed its support for deployment of peacekeepers in Donbas
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that Washington is in favor of deploying UN peacekeepers to the Donbas, including on the border with Russia, and insists for them to have a broad mandate, Radio Liberty reports.
"I want to be clear about this. Any such forces should have a broad mandate, to ensure peace and security throughout the occupied territory of Ukraine, up to and including the border with Russia ...," Nauert said. She recalled that Germany, like the other EU states, agreed to be in it with the United States.
"We believe that the possibility of UN peacekeeping forces in the east of Ukraine is certainly an idea that is worth exploring. We consider that a possible way to protect Ukrainian citizens, regardless of nationality. We see this potentially as a pathway for restoring Ukraine's sovereignty and its territorial integrity ... ", noted the representative of the State Department.
Nauert pointed out that the US is in favor of the ceasefire regime provided by the Russian Federation as the first step towards a settlement in the Donbas. "We have repeatedly called on Russia to ensure a real and durable ceasefire, and we would like them to disengage along the line of contact, withdraw heavy weapons and allow full, unfettered and safe access to international observers, including the international border," the spokesperson stressed.
Russia recently prepared a resolution for the UN Security Council with a proposal to send peacekeepers to the Donbass to protect OSCE observers.
Later it became known that Ukraine will propose its version of the initiative on the introduction of UN peacekeeping mission to the Donbas after coordinating it with partner countries.