Poroshenko does not rule out talks on peacekeeping operation in Donbas on UN General Assembly sidelines

"We need to deploy peacekeepers for the sake of lasting de-escalation; at first they will be tasked to operate along the contact line. Peacekeepers remain topical, [and] I do not rule out that we will hold bilateral negotiations in New York," he said on Tuesday. He said "the existing ceasefire regime, though a fragile one, gave modest hope for optimism that there will be no need for peacekeepers if other provisions of the Minsk agreements are put into life." Poroshenko said that the two main provisions of the Minsk agreements must be implemented, i.e. "the withdrawal of foreign armed units from the Ukrainian territory and the control over the Ukraine-Russia border." "We can resolve all other problems, humanitarian and social, on our own because this is not an internal conflict but Russia's aggression against independent Ukraine," the president stressed.