Germany is considering to send 200 soldiers with drones in Ukraine to monitor ceasefire 0510142

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Defence & Security News - Germany

 
 
Sunday, October 5, 2014 11:52 AM
 
Germany is considering to send 200 soldiers with drones in Ukraine to monitor ceasefire.
Germany is considering sending soldiers and noncombat drones to Ukraine in an effort to help international monitors return stability to the country’s war-torn eastern region, people close to the government said Saturday, October 4, 2014.
     
Germany is considering sending soldiers and noncombat drones to Ukraine in an effort to help international monitors return stability to the country’s war-torn eastern region, people close to the government said Saturday, October 4, 2014.
A German soldier launches an EMT Aladin airborne reconnaissance drone.
     
The German government is preparing staff and equipment that could be used to support the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s mission to ensure a cease-fire reached between government forces and pro-Russia separatists.

German newspaper Bild, however, said that 200 soldiers were planned for the mission. Around 150 would help monitor the crisis area with drones. That number included some 50 paratroopers stationed in the German state of Lower Saxony, who are currently getting ready for deployment.

Last month, France and Germany offered to send drones to help bolster OSCE monitoring of the ceasefire in Ukraine’s troubled east.

The German troops would play no part in keeping the two sides apart, but would be there purely to protect the observers. Some 150 of the troops would be involved in monitoring the buffer zone with drones.

The monitors would be monitoring a 30-kilometer buffer zone between Ukrainian government forces and the pro-Russian rebels. The zone, inside which no heavy artillery are to be deployed, stretches from the border city of Luhansk to the port city of Mariupol.

Fresh fighting in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk has killed at least 12 rebels, as pro-Russian separatists suffered their worst losses since a ceasefire with Ukraine officially began on September 5.

Ukrainian forces clashed with rebels for control of the strategic Donetsk airport, in the restive east on Saturday, as blasts echoed across the rebel-held city.

On Friday, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of helping the rebels, threatening a fragile ceasefire.