The president of the UN General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, has said she could imagine UN peacekeeping forces being deployed to Ukraine to secure a ceasefire and postwar peace if supported by the majority of UN states.

Baerbock, the former German Green and foreign minister, who took over the UN job on September 9, was speaking to German weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

 

Ukraine updates: Could UN peacekeepers safeguard ceasefire?
Timothy Jones | Karl Sexton with AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters

 

"If a peace treaty is reached, it must be secured in the best possible way. And if the majority of member states say that Blue Helmets are needed for this, then that is something that will hopefully secure lasting peace," Baerbock said.

She said such peace missions are "more necessary than ever before, and not only with regard to the European continent."

UN peacekeeping forces are referred to as Blue Helmets after the color of the protective gear they wear on the ground. They consist of military personnel from UN member states seconded to work under the command and control of the United Nations. 

Such a UN peacekeeping mission would also largely depend on Moscow. The UN Security Council authorizes peacekeeping missions, and Russia's veto power over any of the Council's decisions could stymie a UN Blue Helmet deployment to Ukraine. 

Efforts to agree to a ceasefire have been ongoing for months, but have so far proven unsuccessful.

Russia has been unwilling to enter talks until what President Vladimir Putin calls the conflict's "root causes" — namely Ukraine's ambitions to join NATO and the European Union — are addressed.

Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after backing separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014, when its forces illegally annexed the Crimean peninsula.

Baerbock formally took office as the president of the UN's General Assembly on Tuesday. The largely ceremonial role is different from that of the UN Secretary-General.

• UN General Assembly chief Annalena Baerbock said UN peacekeepers could enforce a potential future ceasefire in Ukraine
• A survey has shown that a majority of people in Germany fear potential Russian attacks on NATO countries after Russian drones recently penetrated Polish airspace
• A fire broke out at a major oil refinery in Russia's southwest after a Ukrainian drone attack

Below is a roundup of the major developments related to Russia's war in Ukraine on Sunday, September 14: 

 Ukraine's spy agency claims responsibility for attacks on Russian rail lines

Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR, said it was behind attacks that targeted Russia's railway infrastructure, Ukrainian media reported Sunday.

HUR reportedly carried out an explosion on a railway line in Russia's southern Oryol region and the derailment of a freight train in the Leningrad region, near St. Petersburg.

A locomotive also derailed in another district of the same region, killing the driver. But the agency did not claim responsibility for that incident.

"By destroying railway infrastructure in these sections, the Russians are experiencing significant logistical problems, which in turn affects their ability to carry out active operations against the Ukrainian armed forces," Ukrainian media outlets quoted an HUR spokesman as saying.

https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-could-un-peacekeepers-safeguard-ceasefire/live-73986929

 

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 BAERBOCK STILL DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PEACE TREATY WHICH RISSIA SEEKS AND A CEASEFIRE WHICH RUSSIA DOES NOT WANT...