Italy comments on possibility of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine
Photo: Italian Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on the possibility of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine (flickr.com ministerodifesa4)
Western countries continue to discuss the possibility of sending a peacekeeping force to Ukraine to facilitate a potential ceasefire. In Italy, the heads of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on this proposal, according to Ansa.it.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto expressed his readiness to support a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine if peace is achieved.
At the same time, the head of the Italian Defense Ministry expressed hope to talk about peace and peacekeeping as soon as possible in Ukraine and emphasized his country's readiness to contribute to this.
However, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called these discussions “premature.”
According to Tajani, to maintain peace, it must first be achieved and made sure that it is fair.
“It is premature to talk about any initiatives the next day,” the Foreign Minister said.
Sending peacekeepers to Ukraine
Increasingly, European countries, as well as the United States, are discussing the idea of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine as a security guarantee that Russia could violate after the ceasefire.
Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies, told RBC-Ukraine that Russia may not agree to this format if the peacekeeping troops include soldiers from European countries.
“For example, the UN Blue Helmets or a technical mission to monitor the ceasefire, as was the case with the OSCE after the Minsk agreements,” he suggested.
He also noted that if EU troops are sent to Ukraine, a coalition of European states could join this coalition.
At the same time, the newly elected US President Donald Trump believes that European countries should take a leading role and send peacekeepers to the country. However, he does not plan to involve American troops in this process.
