Germany and France will present a new proposal shortly under which their soldiers could participate in the monitoring of the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, a German foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday.

The spokesman, Martin Schaefer, said the plan would be presented in the “next hours or days” but added, “One thing is clear. Before German and French soldiers or others are sent to participate in the civil monitoring mission of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in Ukraine there are some political and legal questions that must be resolved.”

Schaefer said one of these questions was the role of the Bundestag lower house of parliament in approving such a mission. 

Last month, France and Germany offered to deploy drones as part of efforts by the OSCE to reinforce monitoring of the cease-fire.

“We are studying with Germany how we can together reinforce monitoring of the cease-fire and the buffer zone,” Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview Saturday with RTL radio and news channel LCI.

Drone offer

Le Drian confirmed that France and Germany, which are in discussions with the OSCE, would offer drones but did not mention the deployment of soldiers or give further details.

Ukraine’s military accused Russian-backed separatists of again violating the month-old cease-fire on Sunday, saying their forces came under attack in several parts of the east including the airport at the city of Donetsk.

Le Drian reiterated that the delivery of the first of two French helicopter carriers sold to Russia would depend on the situation in Ukraine in the coming weeks.

France has been under pressure from allies to back out of the deal, which is seen as strengthening Russia militarily at a time when it is accused by the West of supporting separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The first of the two Mistral ships is due to be delivered on November 1.
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