Second Stage

Last Thursday saw the second stage of the fulfillment of Viktor Yushchenko’s election promise to pull out the Ukrainian peacekeepers from Iraq. This time about 70 soldiers have come home.

By withdrawing this group of soldiers, the Ministry of Defense has completed the rotation of Ukrainian servicemen in Iraq: there are now 530 fewer troops. Since the rotation began this spring, 1,394 servicemen, 73 pieces of equipment, and 30 containers with military supplies have returned to Ukraine. As part of the rotation, the 7th Separate Mechanized Brigade was replaced by 864 peacekeepers from the 81st Tactical Group consisting of the headquarters, four air mobile companies, mortar battery, reconnaissance company, military police company, engineer platoon, and CBR platoon. Following changes in the Iraq contingent’s mission, the group’s headquarters was reinforced with sections of governmental support and military aid, the Ministry of Defense press service reports.

Withdrawing the peacekeepers from Iraq was one of Viktor Yushchenko’s election promises. The National Security and Defense Council advised President Yushchenko to pull out the troops in three stages: 150 servicemen in mid-March, 590 in May, and the rest in October. In mid-April the president issued a decree announcing that the withdrawal will be completed by January 1, 2006. Before the withdrawal began, there were about 1,600 Ukrainian peacekeepers in Iraq, stationed in the province of Wasit located 120-140 km southeast of Baghdad in the Polish zone of responsibility.

The Ukrainian troops are being pulled out of Iraq under an agreement reached with the coalition partners, Poland and the US. Earlier, fears were raised that Ukraine’s withdrawal from the restive Middle Eastern country might seriously affect stability in the region. Polish and US experts have been critical of such allegations because Kyiv (in contrast to Spain, e.g.) is withdrawing its troops in an orderly manner.