NATO agrees on assistance for Ukraine:
By RFE/RL
NATO says defense ministers of the alliance have agreed to "boost" support for Ukraine with a "comprehensive package of assistance."
In a statement issued on June 15 following a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission in Brussels, the alliance said the package aimed to "help Ukraine strengthen its defenses by building stronger security structures."
NATO is already implementing projects under the "trust funds" established for Ukraine to help it reform its military -- including on command and control, cyberdefense, and rehabilitating wounded soldiers.
"We are also developing new projects, including in the areas of countering hybrid warfare and explosive devices," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
During the meeting, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak presented Ukraine's defense-reform road map.
"Modernizing Ukraine's forces while they are engaged in conflict is no easy task, but the government is making good progress," Stoltenberg said.
Excerpt:
Russia and Ukraine are discussing the further exchange of prisoners, including the case of Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, but everything will depend on the decision of President Putin, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
"Contacts are being maintained. Ukrainian representative for humanitarian affairs in the Minsk Group Medvedchuk is rather active. Various candidates are being discussed. In this case, the joint work is definitely being done," Peskov said, answering a question whether progress in the exchange of Sentsov was possible.
"Still, everything will depend, and I can speak only for ourselves, on the final say of the head of state," Peskov stressed.
NATO Chief Demands Russia Withdraw From Ukraine
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has called on Russia to withdraw its forces and military equipment from Ukraine and to stop supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Stoltenberg made his comments on June 15 after a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels that was also attended by Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak.
Russian officials have repeatedly denied sending troops or military hardware to Ukraine, despite evidence to the contrary.
Stoltenberg said the alliance will continue to stand by the Ukrainian government and will never recognize Russia's 2014 "illegal and illegitimate annexation of [the Ukrainian peninsula of] Crimea."
He added that in response to Russian military actions in Ukraine, NATO has "stepped up its support for Ukraine."
Stoltenberg said that Russia continues to support separatists in southeastern Ukraine by supplying them with equipment and advisers.
He said that adherence to the Minsk accords is the only way to end the fighting in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 9,300 people since 2014.
Leaders from NATO's 28 member countries will meet for a July 8-9 summit in Warsaw where they are expected to approve plans to station military battalions in the three Baltic states and Poland.
Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
