Ukrainian President actively seeks NATO and EU to "fight" Russia?

NATO plans to deliver equipment to ensure secure communications to the Ukrainian armed forces later this year, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a meeting with Ukrainian President Piotr Poroshenko on Thursday.

"NATO provides Ukraine with strong political and practical support. This includes some 40 million euros that allies have pledged to put into trust funds to help Ukraine improve governance and communications… And today I announced to Mr. Poroshenko that we will provide secure communications equipment to the Ukrainian armed forces by the end of this year," Stoltenberg said.

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He reiterated that “NATO has increased its presence in the Black Sea region in recent years and will continue to assess its presence there”. Stoltenberg also noted that NATO confirms Kiev's desire to join the alliance and “wants Ukraine to succeed in this and is ready to help in this”.

In December 2014, the Verkhovnaya Rada of Ukraine amended two laws, rejecting the state's non-aligned status. In June 2016, additional changes were adopted to establish NATO membership as the country's foreign policy goal. By 2020, Ukraine must ensure full compatibility of its armed forces with those of NATO countries.

In another development, Ukrainian President Piotr Poroshenko has just forwarded to Tusk and Stoltenberg a proposal for sanctions against Russia. He presented the proposal in Brussels during talks with European Council President Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to punish Russia for the incident in the Kerch Strait.

Earlier, the EU countries agreed on a joint statement on the events in the Kerch Strait area, which stressed the need to de-escalate in the region. Some sources in the EU structures said that there was no consensus on introducing new sanctions, the priority at this stage is to help find a solution to the conflict situation and provide practical assistance to Ukraine. The night before, Poroshenko held talks with the head of the European Council and the head of European diplomacy Federica Mogherini.

"We also discussed sanctions. We presented Mr. Tusk with data, projects. Today, I presented these documents to the NATO Secretary General. They list specific people who participated in actions against Ukrainian sailors," Poroshenko said after meeting with Stoltenberg at the alliance's headquarters.

According to the Ukrainian president, the topic of "Nord Stream-2" was also discussed at meetings with European representatives.