20 Feb 2018 19:46

Ukraine insists on UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas - Poroshenko

KYIV. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Ukraine will continue to insist on the introduction of a peacekeeping mission in Donbas, the country's President Petro Poroshenko said.

"Ukraine remains committed to peaceful resolution of the problem of liberating its occupied territories. This is proved by our resolute struggle - mine as president, by our foreign ministry, parliament and its members, other ministries and government departments - the struggle for deployment of the classic peacekeeping mission in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolution which would allow restoring the security component of the sovereignty-restoration," Poroshenko told the Military Cabinet in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Over 75% of Ukrainian people are in favor of introducing peacekeepers in Donbas, he said.

Furthermore, he promised to tell, during the closed-door part of the meeting, of the results of his talks with United States Defense Secretary James Mattis, British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

"Separately, I will ask [Ukrainian Defense Minister] Stepan Tymofiyovych Poltorak to report on the results of his U.S. visit. There has been positive news there, that soon we will finally get the long-waited defensive weapon. And there are certain positive results regarding the modernization of our Armed Forces," Poroshenko said.