U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker believes that a UN peacekeeping force should ensure security in the entire territory of the occupied Donbas, control the Ukrainian side of the border with Russia and help stop the flow of heavy weapons.

He told reporters at a briefing in Kyiv on Saturday, September 16, that a peacekeeping mission, if it were deployed, should be responsible for this area instead of the Russian army that occupies the territory, probably by means of bringing security to citizens and granting access to the Ukrainian authorities, providing the space where elections are possible and where the Minsk agreements can be implemented.

At the same time, Volker noted that Russia's initiative on the deployment of UN peacekeepers was interesting in terms of the possibility of moving to the discussion and bringing it to the level of the UN Security Council.

He expressed concern that the terms of the mandate proposed by Russia would only deepen the division of Ukraine, as the mission would be deployed on the contact line, not on the whole territory, would only protect members of the OSCE monitoring mission, not people, and that it would not give access to control the Russian-Ukrainian border.

He expressed hope that through this dialogue it would be possible to talk about the idea of a genuine peacekeeping mission that would be focused on the security in the entire area. He also said that the force should control the Ukrainian side of the border with Russia and help stop the flow of heavy weapons.