Interfax-Ukraine
October 8, 2014
US to provide $46 mln in additional defensive security assistance to Ukraine – embassy
U.S. President Barack Obama has approved more than $46 million in additional defensive security assistance to Ukraine since August, in addition to $70 million of security assistance announced earlier, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said in a statement posted on its Web site on Wednesday.
“The United States is working to bolster Ukraine’s ability to secure its borders and preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty in the face of Russian occupation of Crimea and a concerted effort by Russian-backed separatists to destabilize eastern Ukraine,” reads the statement.
It notes that this assistance includes funds for the provision of body armor, night vision goggles, armored SUVs and patrol vehicles, and additional communications equipment.
“This is in addition to the approximately 300,000 Meals Ready to Eat (delivered in March), as well as assistance for the provision of materiel using Foreign Military Financing to support Ukraine’s armed forces with medical supplies, service member equipment (e.g., helmets, sleeping mats, water purification units), explosive ordnance disposal equipment, and handheld radios,” the statement says.
In addition, the United States is providing equipment and training for a number of counter-mortar radar sets, intended to enhance the defensive capabilities of Ukrainian forces.
“Counter-mortar radars will help Ukrainian forces provide warning of incoming artillery fire,” the embassy said.
The United States has also allocated additional Cooperative Threat Reduction funding to support Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service with supplies.
“To date, Embassy Kyiv has purchased and delivered dozens of shelters, heavy engineering equipment (bulldozers, excavators, graders), diesel generators, fuel trucks, cargo trucks, small patrol craft, hand-held day/night optics, security fencing, patrol flashlights, perimeter alarm systems, fuel pumps, concertina wire, critical vehicle spares (tires, batteries, replacement engines), food storage freezers, field stoves, light armored patrol vehicles, secure communications, expert document search systems, passport inspection portable devices, technical endoscopes, handheld metal detectors/mirrors, camouflage suits, patrol caps, tactical boots, external (ballistic) knee and elbow protection pads, and waterproof suits to the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service for use in monitoring and securing their borders,” the report says.
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Interfax-Ukraine
October 8, 2014
Ukraine hopes NATO trust funds will start working this year – Klimkin
Some of the four NATO trust funds that were formed to help Ukraine reform the security sector are ready for practical cooperation, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said.
“We have four funds, and certain contributions will be made by the end of this year. But all trust funds, as we expect, will start working by the end of this year or early next year,” he said in Brussels on Wednesday after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
He noted that Kyiv was currently trying to determine specific projects that will be implemented as part of these funds.
However, Klimkin declined to specify which amounts of money the issue may concern.
As reported, at the NATO summit in Wales in early September this year, it was decided to establish four trust funds to support reforms in Ukraine’s defense sector. The funds will work on projects in the field of logistics, defense sector management, cyber security and rehabilitation of wounded soldiers.
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