05 September, 2017
Kiev demands the withdrawal of foreign troops and weapons from Ukraine and the restoration of its control over the Ukraine-Russia border, it said in the statement in response to a proposal made by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine and Russia have been at each other's throats for three years since the outbreak of violence in Crimea caused by pro-Russian separatists, who declared themselves independent of Ukraine in 2014.
"On the defensive lethal weapons, we are actively reviewing it, I will go back now having seen the current situation and be able to inform the secretary of state and the president in very specific terms what I recommend for the direction ahead", Defense Secretary James Mattis told reporters in Kiev last week, according to Reuters.
"The self-declared (pro-Russian) republics (in eastern Ukraine) have enough weapons, including ones captured from the other side" said Putin.
"It is hard to say how the self-proclaimed republics may react to the supply of US weapons to the conflict zone", he said.
In comments likely to be interpreted as a veiled threat, Putin suggested that pro-Russian separatists were likely to respond by expanding their own campaign. "Perhaps they would deploy weapons to other conflict zones".
"It would help resolve the problem in eastern Ukraine", said Putin, saying that a slew of preconditions would need to be met before any such deployment happened.
The issue of the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers in Donbass can be put on the agenda only on condition of complete ceasefire and Ukraine's withdrawal of all its forces from the line of engagement, Head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LPR) Igor Plotnitsky said on Tuesday.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said Kyiv was "prepared to work on this issue".
Kyiv is concerned that deploying peacekeepers along the demarcation line only would cement the separatists' control over they territory they hold and leave Russian Federation free to sends troops and weapons across the worldwide border.
