Peacekeepers in Ukraine: The Ukrainian Armed Forces assess their potential effectiveness

Peacekeeping forces in Ukraine may either have a monitoring function to ensure a ceasefire or the right to use the weapons at their disposal. If the second option were implemented, it would seriously impact the Russian aggressive stance.

This opinion was expressed by Head of the Council of Reservists of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military expert Ivan Tymochko, in an interview with "Ukrainian Radio".

Tymochko responded to a question about whether the peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine would make a step back, as happened, for example, in Srebrenica.

"Everything must be outlined in documents that regulate their activities. One option is that they would act as peacekeepers with a monitoring function to ensure the ceasefire is respected, and that’s it. Just like we had with the OSCE mission until recently, which I also view very skeptically, where they would travel around, and later it turned out there were more Russian agents than any benefit from them," the Head of the Council of Reservists said.

According to him, the other option is if the peacekeeping forces would have the right to use the weapons at their disposal.

Tymochko is convinced that peacekeeping forces in Ukraine should be represented by all types of military units – from infantry to aviation and air defense forces, along with armored vehicles. This is necessary so that if Russia violates agreements, peacekeepers would have the capability to use force to suppress such provocations.

"I think this would have a very serious impact on Russia's aggressive mindset," the military expert emphasized.

He also noted that it remains unclear whether the peacekeepers would be positioned alongside Ukrainian troops or between the defenders and the occupiers.

What will determine the effectiveness of peacekeeping forces?

"The third important point is that the effectiveness of peacekeeping forces will be directly proportional to how Ukraine behaves. Whether we will really shift the responsibility onto them, although I don’t think that will happen. Or whether we will also be expanding our missile programs, our robotic systems programs, because in terms of human resources, we fall short compared to Russia. But technologically, in cooperation with the European Union and their technologies, we have every chance to use this situation to our advantage," Tymochko explained.

What is known about the peacekeepers' actions in Srebrenica?

The tragedy in Srebrenica occurred in July 1995 during the Bosnian War. The Dutch peacekeeping contingent of the UN was unable to prevent genocide when Bosnian Serb forces captured the city, which was supposed to be a "safe area" under UN protection. After taking Srebrenica, the Serb forces separated Muslim men and boys from women and children. The Dutch peacekeepers, lacking sufficient resources and support, did not intervene and effectively handed control of the city over to the Serb forces. As a result, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed – the largest mass killing in Europe since World War II. This event became a symbol of the impotence of peacekeeping missions, and the Dutch government later partially acknowledged responsibility for what happened.

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