Ukraine to ask United Nations for peacekeepers in Donbas

The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine decided the evening of Feb. 18 to appeal to the United Nations and the European Union to dispatch peacekeepers to the conflict line and the Ukrainian border currently under separatist control. “The best format for us is an EU police mission,” Poroshenko said.

In response, the Russian government said such an appeal casts doubt upon the intentions of the Ukrainian government to fulfill the Minsk Two accords, which call for the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics to form their own police forces. “If some other schemes are being proposed here, then the question arises of whether they plan to fulfill the Minsk accords,” said Vitaliy Churkin, the permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations.

Zenon Zawada: Once again, a clear strategy in dealing with the Donbas conflict is absent from the Ukrainian government. Just how a UN peacekeeping mission is supposed to conform to the requirements of the Feb. 12 Minsk cease-fire accords is unclear. This move is particularly strange after the Ukrainian president warned of a formal declaration of martial law should the Russian-backed separatists attack Debaltseve.

Rather than martial law, we now have on the table a peacekeeping mission being proposed, which is more evidence the Ukrainian government wants to avoid having to declare war at all costs. A poignant question at this point is whether the United Nations wants to get involved in this mess, especially with Russia having a veto right to any decision by the Security Council.