NATO has reiterated its support for Ukraine at a summit of the alliance in Warsaw.
NATO has reiterated its support for Ukraine at a summit of the alliance in Warsaw.
On Saturday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia to end “political, military and financial support for separatists” in eastern Ukraine.
The NATO allies “are united in their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Stoltenberg told a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
At the Warsaw summit, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Ivana Klympush-Tsintsadze described the developments as “one of the steps on our way to achieve NATO standards in the country, NATO standards in the armed forces, in the security and defence spheres for the country.
“That will make us definitely stronger and that will make us capable to further defend our country. We understand that, unfortunately, we have to be prepared for this every single day.”
Military analyst Alexander Golts surmised that NATO’s pledges of support to Ukraine at the Warsaw summit do not represent any significant policy change.
‘Russia, from its official position, looks with utmost suspicion at any contacts between Ukraine and NATO. Russia suspects – without much grounds – that at some point of time Ukraine might want to become a NATO member,” Golts told euronews.
“The (NATO) package itself is a continuation of the measures which were initiated at the previous summit in Wales. There have been no major changes’.
Euronews correspondent Andrei Beketov reported from Warsaw: “Poroshenko also discussed with his western colleagues the situation in Eastern Ukraine. Moving forward with the Minsk process requires Russian participation.
“But the President can be proud that NATO has never provided to any of it’s partners such a complex and expansive aid package as it’s promised to Kyiv – in addition to political support.”