EU declines military assistance to Ukraine

The economic locomotive of the European Union - Germany - and the country that seriously suffered from Russian sanctions - Finland - will not provide military assistance to Kiev to conduct operations against the people's republics of Donbass, Western publications said with reference to representative of German and Finnish authorities.

Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said on Finnish television that such there was question of this type on the agenda. "This, of course, is impossible," - he said, speaking of whether Finland was ready to provide such support.

"Such assistance can not come from NATO either, as the alliance provides assistance only to its members, which is well known. The EU does not have the resources to provide such assistance to Ukraine," said Stubb.

In Berlin, officials also said that they were not going to provide military assistance to Ukraine. This was said by German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer.

Ukraine's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin, appealed to the European Union and NATO with a request to provide military assistance to Kiev in the fight against members of armed groups in the east of the country, Interfax reports.