North Atlantic Treaty Organisation chief to make first visit to Ukraine next week
The drill, being held near Lviv in western Ukraine, is meant to test authorities’ capacity to respond to a mine explosion and collapse and the resulting earth tremors. After meeting the president, the alliance’s top diplomat will be greeted by Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, Volodymyr Hroisman.
Former president Viktor Yanukovich was pressed from office by street protests past year – events described by the Kremlin as a coup – after moving the country closer to Moscow and eschewing a partnership deal with the EU.
Flying by helicopter over Ukraine, Stoltenberg stressed what he called the non-military nature of the joint exercises despite excitement among Ukrainian officials and a brass band playing the 1980s hit “The Final Countdown” as activities got under way.
“Is Ukraine ready to become a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member?”
Kyiv and the West say Russian Federation has sent troops and weapons to fuel the separatist conflict that has killed more than 7,900 people in Ukraine’s east since April 2014.
The Ukrainian security official said he expects the level of violence will remain low ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s highly-anticipated speech at the United Nations General Assembly on September 28, in which some observers suspect he will deflect attention from Ukraine onto the conflict in Syria.
“For a true solid lull, the Russian soldiers must leave” the territory of Ukraine, he added.
“Russia continues to support the separatists, provide them with weapons, with different kinds of equipment, training, forces“.