Ukraine can rely on NATO - Stoltenberg

KYIV, September 22 /Ukrinform/. Ukraine can rely on NATO in the difficult times of Russian aggression.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this at the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"In these difficult times, Ukraine can rely on NATO. NATO provides Ukraine with political and practical support. We support your independence and your territorial integrity. And we support the full implementation of the Minsk agreements," Stoltenberg said.

The Secretary General stressed that Russia had annexed Crimea illegally and continued to support separatists in Donbas, providing them with arms and troops, undermining the international rules-based order.

"It is important that you [Ukraine] continue on the path of full implementation of the Minsk agreements as a prerequisite for peace and for Ukraine to restore sovereign control of its own boarder. I commend you all that you have done. Your efforts, the fact that the ceasefire is mainly holding, and renewed attempts to find a political solution, are encouraging. The onus is now on Moscow and the separatists to respect their Minsk commitments," the NATO Secretary General noted.

He added that any parallel local 'elections' in Donbas that were not fully compliant with Ukrainian law would be supported by neither the international community, nor NATO.

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