Alexander Vershbow: US should help Ukraine strengthen its defensive capabilities

The United States should help Ukraine strengthen its defensive capabilities and be ready to step up the economic sanctions to increase the costs to Russia for continuing the conflict. 

Distinguished Fellow of the U.S. Atlantic Council, former Deputy Secretary General of NATO Alexander Vershbow said this, speaking at the 95th Rose-Roth Seminar on "Security and Stability in Ukraine and the Black Sea Region," an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Washington should help Ukraine strengthen its defensive capabilities, which means providing Ukraine with a wider scope of defensive weapons and also increasing the costs to Russia for continuing the conflict in Ukraine," Vershbow said.

He noted he referred not to a military solution, but a search for political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict.

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