GERMANY and France have offered to send unarmed drones to Ukraine to monitor the restive east, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said today.

Mr Steinmeier said that Berlin would send two surveillance drones to assist the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s effort to monitor the factious ceasefire between Kiev and the separatist resistance that sprang up in the east following a fascist-backed takeover in the capital.

But the German soldiers operating the drones would require armed protection, something the current mandate of the OSCE mission does not allow.

After meeting Mr Steinmeier, Kiev Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said parliamentary approval is needed to allow armed foreign troops in the country.

It was unclear if such approval is possible before the planned October 26 parliamentary election in Ukraine.