WARSAW, Poland — NATO leaders agreed to provide a comprehensive assistance package to Ukraine to support the country's government in efforts to ensure closer cooperation with the alliance and combat Russia-backed insurgents in eastern Ukraine.
The plan was approved July 9 on the second day of the summit in Warsaw.
The last session of the Warsaw summit was a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, providing the opportunity for alliance leaders to discuss the country's security situation with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
At his last press conference at the summit on July 9, US President Barack Obama said NATO's assistance package is designed to strengthen the Ukrainian military.
"The trust funds we set up at our last summit are already assisting Ukraine in areas such as cyber defense, logistics and the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers," Jens Stoltenberg, NATO's secretary-general, said at a joint press conference with Poroshenko..
Stoltenberg said that some of the areas of potential cooperation between NATO and Kiev include countering threats from improvised explosive devices and combating hybrid warfare.
In a joint statement, the NATO-Ukraine Commission said that "Russia has continued its aggressive actions undermining Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and security, in violation of international law." To facilitate the necessary reforms in Ukraine, "the CAP contains more than 40 areas where NATO will support Ukraine," the statement said.
A meeting of the NATO-Russia Council is to be held at ambassadorial level in Brussels on July 13.
Meanwhile, Ukraine was not named in a communiqué issued after the summit's conclusion in which NATO leaders said they "encourage those partners who aspire to join the Alliance… to continue to implement the necessary reforms and decisions to prepare for membership." These countries include Georgia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the statement.
Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.
