Kyiv would welcome larger OSCE mission pending decision on UN peacekeeper deployment - Poroshenko
KYIV. March 16 (Interfax) - Pending a decision to deploy UN peacekeepers in Donbas, Ukraine will welcome a larger mission of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitors, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.
"Peacekeepers are not an alternative and they will not replace the OSCE's special monitoring mission, at least for now, pending a decision on peacekeeper deployment in the coming six or seven months. If it is made, we, today, are interested in a larger OSCE mission and its technical tooling," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday.
Poroshenko also said that this mission must have drones at its disposal, as well as radar and other gear to register violations of the ceasefire objectively, and have powers to take measures against those who defy the ceasefire regime.
"Ukraine will consistently fulfill all obligations under the Minsk agreements," Poroshenko said.