Talks on UN peacekeepers in Donbas failed due to Russia's opposition - ambassador

Ukraine's Ambassador to the UN Volodymyr Yelchenko said this in an interview with the Yevropeiska Pravda online news site. 

"The Security Council was really ready to begin work on the mandate of a peacekeeping operation, but Russia rejected virtually all important provisions and returned to its idea of a strange operation where UN peacekeepers would guard OSCE observers," Yelchenko said.

According to him, peacekeepers should be deployed on the state border between Ukraine and Russia, but Russia rejects this option.

"And this is the 'red line' that nobody will ever cross. Therefore, it seems to me that there will be no progress in this matter in the near future. There was a chance indeed, but Russia did not use it or did not allow it to be used," Yelchenko said. 

The ambassador added that, in his opinion, Russia initially did not want a UN peacekeeping force to be deployed to Donbas.

"I think it was just a game... They need either the preservation of the current situation or the so-called 'peacekeeping' operation on Russian terms that would freeze this conflict for many decades. After all, we would have received a peacekeeping operation with which we would not know what to do and how to get it out of there," he said.

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