KIEV, Ukraine
Russia's UN ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said Thursday that Ukraine's request for a peacekeeping force was aimed at destroying the cease-fire accords.
"When someone, instead of doing what he has signed up to, suggests a new scheme and so soon, that raises suspicions that he wants to destroy the Minsk accords," Churkin told the state RIA Novosti news agency.
Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday asked the UN to send a peacekeeping force to control fighting in the eastern region of the country.
Speaking at an emergency security meeting at the capital, he said such a force would help guarantee security "in a situation where the promise of peace is not being kept."
Poroshenko said that a European police mission could maintain the cease-fire, agreed to on Feb. 12, which has not put a stop to fighting in key areas of the region.
But, if that option is not possible, a UN-backed force would be a good solution.
Any UN Security Council mandate would be subject to a possible Russian veto, but there has not been a response from UN officials yet. It is unlikely, observers said, that Russia would accept a European police mission, as EU nations have strongly opposed Russia's actions in Ukraine.
Pro-Russian separatists control large areas in eastern Ukraine would be unlikely to accept any initiative from the European Union. His comments came after Ukrainian troops withdrew from the strategic city of Debaltseve after intense fighting.
