Vice PM: British assistance to Ukraine extremely valuable

"Political and military dialogue between the two countries remains active... The British assistance to Ukraine in defence planning, developing combat capabilities of the Armed Forces and training of military personnel is extremely valuable," Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said at the meeting with British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, the Government portal reports.

The Vice Prime Minister also expressed support for the United Kingdom in the context of the Salisbury case and condemned Russia's aggressive actions. The hybrid threats from Russia concern not only Ukraine, she noted.

"The hot phase of the war against Ukraine continues, being also the war against the whole western world, though it is so-called a ‘soft war.’ It could be counteracted with strengthening the unity of the western community," Klympush-Tsintsadze said.

In turn, Gavin Williamson said it was important for the UK to find out how Ukraine responded to Russia’s hybrid threats.

"A year ago, we did not even imagine that an incident similar to what happened in Salisbury might occur [in our territory]. Ukraine has an extraordinary experience in detecting, responding to and investigating hybrid threats, having experienced a full range of aggression from Russia. It's extremely important for the UK to interact with Ukraine as we are also aware of this danger," Williamson said.

When discussing the implementation of the provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On National Security", the parties touched upon UK's support for Ukrainian reforms in the defence sector. In particular, Klympush-Tsintsadze expressed interest in the UK's experience in approaching the NATO standards in defence and industrial complex management.

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