REUTERS - Ukraine's defense minister said on Sunday that NATO countries were delivering weapons to his country to equip it to fight pro-Russian separatists and "stop" Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Valery Geletey told a news conference he had discussed weapons deliveries in bilateral meetings with NATO defense ministers during a NATO summit in Wales on Sept. 4-5.
NATO officials have said it will not send "lethal assistance" to non-member Ukraine but member states may do so.
Earlier this month, a senior Ukrainian official said Kiev had agreed on the provision of weapons and military advisers from several members of the U.S.-led alliance. Four of the five countries named, including the United States, denied this.
"We reached agreements in closed talks, without media, about ... those weapons that we currently need," said Geletey, who said Ukraine needed weapons "that could stop Putin".
"I have no right to disclose any specific country we reached that agreement with. But the fact is that those weapons are already on the way to us - that's absolutely true, I can officially tell you," he said.
Geletey said about 3,500 Russian troops were now on Ukrainian territory with a further 25,000 massed on the Russian side of the joint border.
Moscow denies accusations by Kiev and its Western backers that it has sent troops and tanks into eastern Ukraine to support separatists in a conflict with Ukrainian forces that has killed more than 3,000 people..............http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/1.615744
14/9/14
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US to Lead Peacekeeping Exercises in Ukraine....
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. military is set to lead peacekeeping exercises Monday in western Ukraine involving 15 nations, as President Barack Obama prepares to host Ukraine's president for talks at the White House later this week.
The Defense Department announced the 12-day exercise earlier this month, saying 1,300 personnel would take part, including 200 U.S. soldiers. The deployment is the first involving U.S. ground troops to Ukraine since the crisis began their earlier this year.
The exercise comes as fighting continues between Ukrainian troops and rebels in the eastern part of the country.
On Sunday, an intense battle flared at a government-controlled airport outside the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also reported Sunday that its monitors visited a market in Donetsk that appeared to have been shelled, and while there, four mortar rounds exploded about 200 meters from them. The OSCE said the monitors moved to another location a kilometer away, and reported another mortar shell hitting about 100 meters from their position.
A White House spokesman said Friday that Obama and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will discuss diplomatic ways to end the crisis when they meet Thursday, and that the talks will highlight U.S. commitment to "stand with Ukraine" in its pursuit of democracy and stability.
The situation in Ukraine is also expected to be discussed Monday in Paris on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq...........http://www.voanews.com/content/us-to-lead-peacekeeping-exercises-in-ukraine/2449857.html
15/9/14