Ukrainian foreign minister: Monitoring 30-day ceasefire should include "international component"

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has said that an effective mechanism for objective monitoring of the 30-day ceasefire should be ensured, and this should include an "international component".

Source: Sybiha in an interview with RBC-Ukraine

Quote: "We really need to have an effective mechanism of objective control [over the observance of the ceasefire – ed.]. It should presumably also have an international component. The question here is who can carry out such monitoring because there is definitely a national component; it cannot happen without us, as it is our territory. That is why Ukraine is crucial here in terms of controlling and monitoring the observance of the ceasefire.

As I have already said, we have already started forming a national team that will develop modalities and algorithms to ensure this process."

Details: Sybiha noted that ceasefire monitoring mechanisms usually operate under the supervision of the UN and OSCE, but given Ukraine's negative experience in 2014-2022, "we need to carefully discuss the possibility and feasibility of implementing such an international component as an element of possible monitoring of the temporary ceasefire".

"Therefore, this is also a subject for discussion with our European counterparts and with the American side, and we are currently conducting these consultations," Sybiha said.

Background:

• Following talks in Saudi Arabia on 11 March, Ukraine announced its readiness to introduce a 30-day ceasefire if Russia also adheres to it.
• On 13 March, Russian leader Putin said that Russia had agreed with the proposal to end combat actions in Ukraine, but that this should lead to a lasting peace.
• Putin said that many questions need to be resolved within the framework of such a ceasefire, such as whether Ukraine will continue to mobilise troops and receive weapons, how monitoring and verification will be handled, and who will determine violations along the 2,000-km front line.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Putin was putting forward additional conditions for a halt to the hostilities, which indicates that he does not want to stop fighting.
• US President Donald Trump said he plans to speak with Putin on 18 March to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.

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