Ukrainian President Poroshenko: American Javelin anti-tank systems have changed situation in Donbas Friday, January 11, 2019 1:00:38 PM

By 2020, the Ukrainian army will fully transition to NATO standards, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said during a meeting with residents of Zdolbuniv in the Rivne province, the presidential press service reported.

According to Poroshenko, although it is far weaker than the Russian army, the Ukrainian army is still ready to oppose the enemy. It has also not yet reached the limits of its combat capabilities. An amount in excess of 5% of the country’s GDP is being allocated to the military’s needs. Investments are also being made into the defense industry complex, and the operation of the construction bureaus is being resumed.

“Each month, the Ukrainian army receives tens and hundreds of units of new and modernized weaponry and equipment, including planes and missiles, and not just this,” the president observed.

Thanks to the efforts of Ukrainian diplomacy, the international community is united on the need to maintain the anti-Russian sanctions, to keep training specialists at newly built or refurbished training grounds, and to send Ukraine weapons such as the Javelins.

The head of state observed that previously, the positions of Ukrainian defenders had been fired on from tanks.

“As soon as they learned that our armament had received Javelins, the Russian tank drivers refused to go out to the positions, and this has been an effective psychological effect of the arrival of the Javelins in the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he added.

“In 2020, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be organized and capable of acting completely according to NATO standards, in accordance with the law on national security,” Petro Poroshenko resumed.

On July 11 last year, the participants in a NATO summit in Brussels supported a declaration which confirmed Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

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