Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko signed on Thursday a decree which said Ukraine will send to Iraq 50 peacekeeping personnel including soldiers and personnel from national border agency and the Interior Ministry in 2006.

According to Resolution No. 1483 of the United Nations Security Council which passed in May 2003, Ukraine's development of long-term cooperative ties with Iraq is conducive to the maintenance of peace and security, and accords with Ukraine's national interests and relevant legal regulations, the decree said.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko said earlier in the day that Ukraine will pull out all of its 927 peacekeeping forces from Iraq before Dec. 30, as reported by the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.

The minister added that of the 50 personnel to be sent to Iraq next year, 30 will be from the armed forces and 20 from the national border agency and the Interior Ministry.

The scheme of sending the 50 personnel is totally different in nature from that of the peacekeeping forces in Iraq, said the defense minister, but he did not elaborate on that.

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.

Source: Xinhua