Kyiv asks U.S. to expand military training mission in Ukraine
Ukraine has asked the United States to expand the training mission for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on air of the TV channel 1+1, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
"We have it on the agenda. We have already announced this to the American side, and they have already started working on it. It is an expansion of the training mission of the U.S. Army for the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Kuleba said.
According to him, during the visit to Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed that a meeting of the Ukraine-U.S. Strategic Partnership Commission would be held.
"Moreover, we discussed how to make this tool more effective for it to become permanent and to establish working bodies which will work out the agenda between the commission meetings," Kuleba explained.
Kuleba noted that during Blinken’s visit the sides discussed the restoration of the post of U.S. special representative for Ukraine.
"We have voiced our vision on this issue. The Secretary of State said that they will analyze our proposal and come back with an answer," Kuleba said.
Earlier, Kuleba and Blinken discussed the possibility of involving the United States in the Donbas negotiations. The parties agreed that the partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the borders with Ukraine does not remove the threat of further aggression from the Russian Federation.
During his visit to Ukraine, Blinken also met with the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the leadership of the parliamentary factions, President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.