The German government has reiterated its support for deploying a UN peacekeeping mission to Ukraine's conflict-torn region of Donbas, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday, adding that the issue had been discussed extensively in Berlin over recent months
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th August, 2018) The German government has reiterated its support for deploying a UN peacekeeping mission to Ukraine's conflict-torn region of Donbas, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday, adding that the issue had been discussed extensively in Berlin over recent months.
"As far as I know, no unity regarding the mandate of the Blue Helmets mission [UN peacekeeping mission] has been reached yet, which means that work should continue. However, the German government's principled position is that this does make sense. And the Russian government has declared [its position on the mission] as well," Seibert said.
He added that the "possibility and necessity" of the UN mission's deployment in Donbas had been discussed in Berlin "over the past weeks and months."
In late July, the Normandy Four countries, namely France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine, agreed to continue the discussion of UN peacekeepers deployment.
Kiev has been seeking the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas since 2015. Russian government supports the idea, but has a different stance on the mission than Kiev has. While Russia believes that the mission should be deployed along the contact line between Kiev and Donbas forces and agreed upon with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics, Kiev insists that the mission should operate across the entire region up to the Russian border.
The Ukrainian government forces launched a military operation against Donbas in 2014, when the breakaway region refused to recognize the newly elected authorities claiming that they have come to power over a coup. Despite the Minsk peace accords signed in 2015, which are set to end the hostilities in the region, the situation remains tense.
