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Ukraine can quickly prepare peacekeepers for Lebanon - minister

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KIEV, September 13 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine can prepare peacekeeping units for deployment to the conflict zone in Lebanon in a short time, the country's defense minister said.

The UN has deployed troops in southern Lebanon to ensure the August 14 ceasefire after month-long fighting between the Lebanon-based Hizbollah radical group and Israel. It eventually hopes to increase its contingent to 15,000, mainly through EU contributions.

"Ukraine's armed forces can prepare several types of units that could function as part of the multinational peacekeeping forces in Lebanon," Anatoliy Hrytsenko said.

He said this could be a mechanized infantry battalion, a combat engineers' battalion or a military police company.

He said consultations were being held to send Ukrainian peacekeepers to the Middle East country, but that a final decision will be made after the issue is considered by the government and the National Security and Defense Council, and then approved by the president and parliament.

Before the truce, Israeli military operations claimed the lives of about 1,000 Lebanese civilians, forced nearly a quarter of the country's population to flee, and demolished large parts of the country's infrastructure.

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