Ukraine, NATO discuss situation in Black Sea region at joint commission meeting

"The security situation was discussed at all meetings, in particular, within the framework of the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting. The Ukrainian side, and I in particular, stressed the importance of the support package for Ukraine in the Black Sea region. As you know, a comprehensive assistance package, the so-called CAP, will be reviewed, and we have agreed to step up cooperation in this sector based on the experience we already have," Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said following the talks at NATO Headquarters.

She stressed that all the NATO colleagues expressed support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and acknowledged progress in security and defense sector reforms.

When asked by journalists whether a threat of escalated hostilities in Ukraine this autumn was discussed, the Vice Prime Minister noted that the parties had paid attention to a wide range of security issues, including Russia's disinformation and propaganda efforts.

"The format of [NATO-Ukraine] Commission did not imply such a discussion. But, of course, all participants supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine and confirmed their willingness to work within the current formats of the Minsk and Normandy processes. Germany and France, for their part, also reaffirmed their commitment to work in this format. Particular attention was paid to the purposeful misinformation and propaganda efforts of the Russian Federation. That was a separate block of our discussion," Stefanishyna said.

The Vice PM refrained from revealing the discussion details, saying that the format of the meeting was "quite closed."

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