NATO countries are supplying Ukraine with weapons, its defence minister says, as US-led military exercises involving 15 countries are set to begin near the Ukrainian border with Poland, Monday.

Ukrainian soldier guard a check point near Mariupol, Ukraine, 14 September 2014. Moscow on 12 Serptember accused the European Union of undermining the peace process in eastern Ukraine, hours after the bloc imposed new sanctions on large Russian energy and defence companies. Ukrainian forces have been scrambling to ramp up Mariupol's defences, after the separatists, who occupy a swath of land between the city and the Russian border, said they would conquer it. EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV

“I have no right to disclose any specific country we reached that agreement with,” Ukrainian defence minister Valery Heletey said on Sunday, “but the fact is that those weapons are already on the way to us," the Ukrainian Unian news agency reports him as saying.

“To stop Putin we need weapons,” he said.

Poland's defence minister Tomasz Siemoniak, however, earlier expressed his “surprise” after a Ukrainian presidential advisor said last week that arms deliveries had been discussed at the recent NATO summit in Wales.

Italy, Norway and the US also denied they were sending arms to Ukraine to aid its battle with rebels in the east.

Minister Siemoniak did say, however, that the Kiev government was free to agree arms deals with whom it chooses and Poland would comply if a request was made.

"If Ukraine expresses willingness to place an order, our defence industry will certainly be ready to comply,” he said.

Meanwhile, troops from 15 nations, including Poland, will begin training exercises near Lviv, western Ukraine, on Monday.

Around 1300 soldiers from Azerbaijan, Britain, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland Romania, Spain and the US will be taking part in the 'Rapid Trident 2014' exercises, ending on 26 September.

The annual exercise, to take place in the Yavoriv training centre near Ukraine's border with Poland, was initially scheduled for July, but was delayed due to escalating fighting in the east of the country between Ukraine armed forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Despite a ceasefire agreed on 5 September, fighting has continued in the Donetsk region, with its troops repelling an attack on a regional airport over the weekend. (pg)