Western Alliance Support For Ukraine Being Discussed
Western Alliance Support For Ukraine Being Discussed
By Rebeka Silva r.silva@hngn.com | Aug 07, 2014 10:10 PM EDT
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk discussed possible Western alliance support for Ukraine’s defensive strength on Thursday, while more of its troops were killed in fresh clashes with separatists, according to The Associated Press.
Rasmussen’s visit to Kyiv followed a warning by the United States-led alliance that Moscow had amassed 20,000 troops near the border and could be planning a ground invasion of Ukraine as it makes progress against the pro-Russian rebels, the AP reported.
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The two men discussed the possibility of a proposed NATO trust fund supporting Kyiv’s ability in areas including command and control, communications and cyber defense, the government said in a statement, according to the AP.
Regional authorities in Donetsk, the east’s main industrial hub and now the main rebel redoubt, said one person had been killed at a hospital when a shell struck on Thursday after a night of intensive artillery attacks overnight, the AP reported.
Government forces, who say they are gradually tightening a noose around the rebels, denied responsibility, according to the AP.
“We have accurate information that the Ukrainian military are not shelling those areas,” said Lysenko, the AP reported. “In the past 24 hours we have lost seven servicemen, and 19 received wounds,” he said.
The new deaths among government forces suggest that Kyiv military losses now total more than 400 since the conflict with the pro-Russian separatists erupted in April, according to the AP.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says the conflict has cost the lives of more than 1,100 people in all, including government forces, rebels and civilians, the AP reported.
Ukraine and its Western allies accuse Russia of orchestrating the revolt and arming the rebels, who have declared independent “people’s republics” in the two main industrial regions, according to the AP. Moscow denies involvement.
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