NATO is working to strengthen the Ukrainian army
NATO will continue to coordinate with Ukraine on a daily basis and work to strenghten the Ukrainian Armed Forces, an anonymous senior NATO official told Radio Svoboda.
"The parties have already identified the main objectives for cooperation. In Kiev, a group of NATO defense consultants is constantly working to help their Ukrainian colleagues enhance the combat readiness of the armed forces and to carry out reforms. Everything is being improved: from the operational plans to procurement systems and logistics. In addition, through the mechanism of trust funds, we participate in the rehabilitation of war veterans, wounded during the conflict in eastern Ukraine," he said.
He also noted that NATO is helping to carry out the so-called "humanitarian demining" in the eastern Ukraine, in areas where the fighting ceased but mines remain a threat to local inhabitants.
Regarding military and technical cooperation with NATO, the official said that the Alliance confirmed the right of the member states to individually cooperate with Ukraine. For example, German companies supply engines for the new Ukrainian BTR-3, BTR-4 and armored vehicle "Dozor" at a discounted price
At the same time NATO avoids direct military intervention in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the official of the Alliance said.
"Let's be honest, the opinion of many European countries, which are members of NATO, is that they don't want to fight for Ukraine. That's why there won't be the Third World War. At the same time, the world can and should support Ukraine by strengthening its army. Ukraine itself is able to reduce the threat by becoming stronger and a more reformed country, " the NATO official said.
According to him, NATO is not satisfied with the fact that some Ukrainian officials "don't put enough effort into the reforms", and politicians "are fighting each other".
The Ukrainians themselves should overcome these problems and make their country much stronger, but it should be made while receiving strong support from the West and NATO, the source of Radio Svoboda concluded.
The fact that organizational, financial and military-technical cooperation with NATO continues in a number of important areas was also confirmed by the Acting Head of Mission of Ukraine to NATO, Yehor Bozhok.
In January, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Viktor Muzhenko, said that representatives of the military and defense agencies of NATO states expressed support for Ukraine and stated that they are willing to increase their financial assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in December 2014 amended two laws, abandoning the nonaligned status of the country. The new military doctrine assumes the restoration of the efforts to become a member state of the NATO: Ukraine has to ensure full compatibility of its Armed Forces with the forces of the NATO member countries before 2020.