UN peacekeepers would help resolve situation in Donbas - Slovenian president

Slovenian President Borut Pahor believes that sending a UN peacekeeping force to Donbas could contribute to a peaceful settlement of the situation.

He said this at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"The adoption of such a resolution and then the sending of respective peacekeeping forces would help resolve this dispute. Similarly, the international community would see that such very difficult and complicated issues can be resolved peacefully, so that nobody perishes anymore and that everybody is alive," Pahor said.

At the same time, he noted that the conflict in eastern Ukraine "can be resolved by wisdom and peaceful means" if the parties adhere to their commitments.

Pahor also emphasized support for Ukraine on its path to European integration. "Slovenia absolutely supports Ukraine on its road to European integration, because Ukraine is a big sovereign and independent state and has the right to decide where to go and what to do. And we, being an EU and NATO country, absolutely support that. On the other hand, we must understand that we must fulfill all obligations and all the rules that operate within this union," he said.

As reported, Poroshenko said at a briefing after a meeting with the German and French leaders in Aachen on May 10 that Ukraine backs the position that the security component of the Minsk agreements could not be implemented without the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force.

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