October 2, 2015

Poroshenko at Peacekeeping Summit

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Below is an excerpt from President Petro Poroshenko’s statement at the U.N. Peacekeeping Summit on September 29.

…Should Ukraine gain a seat in the Security Council for the term of 2016-2017 at the elections to be held in just a few weeks, the issue of consolidation of U.N. peacekeeping will be among our key priorities.

We are pleased that a number of ideas in these papers underscore the relevance of Ukraine’s initiative to boost the capacity of U.N. peacekeeping operations by filling its critical gaps, in particular an “aviation” one.

In addition, the priority attention should be paid to strengthening cooperation of the U.N. Security Council with troop- and police-contributing states as well as to ensuring security of “blue helmets.”

The annual commemoration of the International Day of Peacekeepers, proclaimed by the U.N. General Assembly on the initiative of Ukraine back in 2002, is an opportunity to honor and pay tribute to the sacrifice of “blue helmets.”

Ukraine has well deserved its reputation as a “peacekeeping nation.”

Since its independence (24 years) more than 34,000 Ukrainian “blue helmets” have participated in over 20 operations under U.N. auspices, bringing peace and security to war-torn regions. The courage of Ukrainian helicopter pilots in the U.N. Operations in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia has become legendary. Ukraine remains one of the main contributors of military helicopters to the U.N. – the most needed and looked-after asset and enabler in today’s complex missions. …

I want to stress that we are doing that in an extremely difficult security condition when we are an object of aggression of the Russian Federation.

Moreover, recently Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania established the joint military brigade, which amounts to 2,000 soldiers in general with 527 Ukrainian soldiers, with a view to, among other objectives, participating in international peacekeeping operations based on the U.N. Security Council mandate. …

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