Ambassador Simmons: Inalterability of priorities of Defence Ministry reforms important for UK

The inalterability of priorities in reforming the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine according to NATO standards is more important than the way of organizing the activities of the ministry, which each new minister sees in his own way.

"I have met with Minister Taran several times. We talked about the reform of the Ministry, as well as about Ukraine's path towards NATO in general as the UK’s Embassy ​​along with Canada’s Embassy ​​are two NATO contact embassies in Ukraine. During my communication with the minister, he was consistent in the position that Ukraine's path towards NATO requires further reform of the Ministry of Defence, the Armed Forces, and improved military training in order to achieve interoperability according to NATO standards. And, importantly, he noted that there would be no changes in the planned actions on Ukraine's path towards NATO membership," Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Melinda Simmons said in an interview with the Novoye Vremya.

Commenting on the termination of work of the Reform Project Office, the diplomat noted that, "to be honest, each new minister sees the work of the Ministry in his or her own way."

"It is important for us that priorities of the reform remain unchanged, and this was the main content of our talks with Minister Taran," she said.

As reported, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran by his order shut down the Reform Project Office at the Ministry of Defence and signed an order to establish a Directorate of Defence Policy at the Ministry to implement the goal of defence reform in Ukraine.

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