The Ukraine will pull out all of its peacekeeping forces from Iraq before Dec. 30, Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko said on Thursday.

According to a pullout plan, drawn out jointly by the Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Ukraine's armed forces, 110 soldiers will withdraw from Iraq from Nov. 20 to Dec. 1, and the other troops are expected to return home from Dec. 20-30, Hrytsenko told a news conference.

The United States will provide 3 million US dollars for the withdrawal plan, he said.

The minister added that his country was now planning to dispatch military personnel to Iraq in 2006, in a scheme which is in stark contrast to sending peacekeeping forces.

If the plan is approved, 50 military personnel from the armed forces, the national border agency and the Interior Ministry, will be stationed in Iraq next year, Hrytsenko said.

Ukraine has a 1,650-strong contingent in Iraq, the sixth-largest in the US-led coalition forces. So far, 18 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the country and 33 others wounded.

In March, the national security and defense committee announced that all Ukrainian troops would withdraw from Iraq by the end of this year.

Source: Xinhua