The Ministry of  Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the detention by the armed groups of the UN peacekeepers who conducted the peacekeeping operation in the territory of the Golan Heights.

As a significant contributor to UN peacekeeping operations and initiator of the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel, Ukraine proceeds from the fact that one of the most important aspects of the peacekeeping operations is to ensure an adequate level of protection and security of their staff.

Forcible capture and further detention of UN international representatives located in the territory of the Golan Heights with peacekeeping mission considered to be an another evidence of the criminal and terrorist nature of the armed groups operating in the area of the responsibility of UN Disengagement Observer Force.

Unfortunately, Ukraine has repeatedly faced similar problems in its territory when abroad funded terrorists seized and forcibly held unarmed international observers as hostages.

Having had such a sad experience, Ukraine strongly condemns the illegal detention of the representatives of international peacekeeping forces and demands from the parties concerned the immediate release of the peacekeepers and unlock of the area of their deployment within the disengagement zone in the Golan Heights.