The United States is working to bolster Ukraine’s ability to secure its borders and preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty in the face of Russian occupation of Crimea and a concerted effort by Russian-backed separatists to destabilize eastern Ukraine. President Obama has approved more than $23 million in additional defensive security assistance since early March.
This assistance includes:
- A new tranche of $5 million for the provision of body armor, night vision goggles, and additional communications equipment. This is in addition to the approximately 300,000 Meals Ready to Eat (delivered in March), as well as assistance for the provision of materiel using Foreign Military Financing to support Ukraine’s armed forces with medical supplies, service member equipment (e.g., helmets, sleeping mats, water purification units), explosive ordnance disposal equipment, and handheld radios.
- The United States also has allocated Cooperative Threat Reduction funding to support Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service with supplies (e.g., clothing, shelters, small power generators and hand fuel pumps, engineering equipment, communications equipment, vehicles, and non-lethal individual tactical gear).
- To date, Embassy Kyiv has purchased and delivered 20-person shelters, sleeping bags, fuel filter adapters, barbed wire, patrol flashlights, perimeter alarm systems, fuel pumps, concertina wire, vehicle batteries, spare tires, binoculars, excavators, trucks, generators, food storage freezers, field stoves, and communications gear to the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service, for use in monitoring and securing their borders.
- On April 1, senior U.S. defense officials met with their Ukrainian counterparts in Kyiv for bilateral defense consultations, during which they held substantive discussions on regional security, defense cooperation, and areas for growth in the U.S.-Ukraine defense relationship.
- Senior defense officials met with Ukrainian counterparts in Kyiv in early June to discuss ongoing U.S.-Ukraine defense cooperation and U.S. support to Ukraine’s defense reform efforts.
- In early June, U.S. European Command will hold a general/flag officer steering group meeting with Ukrainian counterparts in Kyiv to set the strategic direction for future military-to-military cooperation.
4/6/14
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Obama condemns Russian 'dark tactics' in Ukraine...
ReplyDeleteUS President Barack Obama has condemned Russian "aggression" in Ukraine.
Speaking in Warsaw to mark 25 years since the fall of communism in Poland, he hailed Polish democracy as a beacon for neighbouring Ukraine.
"How can we allow the dark tactics of the 20th Century to define the 21st?" he said.
Earlier Mr Obama met Ukraine President-elect Petro Poroshenko, and pledged support for plans to restore peace to the country.
Mr Obama called Mr Poroshenko a "wise selection" to lead Ukraine, and said the nation could become a vibrant, thriving democracy if the world community stood behind it...............http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27691607
4/6/14
Remarks by President Obama and President-elect Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine After Bilateral Meeting....
ReplyDeletePRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, it is a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to have my first extended meeting with President-elect Poroshenko and to hear about his plans for a peaceful and prosperous Ukraine. Obviously, Ukraine has gone through a very challenging time. And what we have seen has been a incredible outpouring of democracy in the face of actions by Russia as well as armed militias in certain portions of the east that violate international law, violate sovereignty, and have spurred great violence.
Despite all that, what the Ukrainians said in the election that resulted in President-elect Poroshenko’s inauguration on Saturday is that they reject that past. They reject violence. They reject corruption. And what they’re interested in is the opportunity for Ukrainians to make their own decisions about their own future -- a future in which if people work hard, if they are willing to educate themselves and apply themselves, that they can succeed and that they can choose their own representatives, and that those representatives will look out for their interests and not the interests of only those in power.
That’s the hope that President-elect Poroshenko represents. And in my discussions with him today it’s clear that he understands the aspirations and the hopes of the Ukrainian people. And when I say the Ukrainian people, I mean all the Ukrainian people. I think that President-elect Poroshenko recognizes that his mandate is not just to help certain portions of his country succeed, but all portions of his country succeed........http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/06/04/remarks-president-obama-and-president-elect-petro-poroshenko-ukraine-aft
4/6/14
Obama gives backing to Ukraine's new president...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday, offering Kiev financial and security help and saying he was the right choice to lead the country through its stand-off with Moscow.
With the death toll mounting from fighting between Kiev's forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Obama met Poroshenko for the first time since his election last month and said he was impressed with what he found.
"What Ukrainians said in the elections is that they reject that path. They reject violence," and want the opportunity to determine their own future, Obama told reporters after meeting Poroshenko in the Polish capital.
"That's the hope that President Poroshenko represents," Obama said. "In my discussions with him today it's clear he understands the hopes and aspirations of the Ukrainian people."
Obama described Poroshenko as a "wise selection" by the Ukrainian people and said: "I have been deeply impressed by his vision." Poroshenko, a billionaire confectionary magnate who now takes over a country in deep crisis, told reporters he was preparing to unveil a plan for "the peaceful resolution of the situation in the east" soon after his inauguration on Saturday.
He said a gathering of world leaders in Normandy, France, on Friday to mark the 75th anniversary of the World War Two D-Day landings would be crucial for the plan...............http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/04/us-obama-europe-idUSKBN0EF0WB20140604?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
4/6/14
Rede in Warschau Obama: Wer einen Verbündeten angreift, greift alle an....
ReplyDeleteIn seiner Grundsatzrede in Warschau warnt der amerikanische Präsident Russland vor einer Aggression gegen einen Nato-Alliierten. Russlands Annexion der Krim werde der Westen nicht akzeptieren.
Der amerikanische Präsident Barack Obama hat der Ukraine auf dem Weg zu Demokratie und Unabhängigkeit Unterstützung zugesagt. „Wir werden Russlands Besetzung der Krim nicht akzeptieren“, sagte Obama am Mittwoch in Warschau in Anwesenheit des neuen ukrainischen Präsidenten Petro Poroschenko.
Obama warnte Russland in aller Schärfe vor jeder Aggression gegen einen Nato-Alliierten in Osteuropa. In seiner Grundsatzrede erinnerte er an die Bündnissolidarität in Artikel 5 des Nato-Vertrages. Wer einen Verbündeten angreife, greife alle an, sagte Obama. Die Annexion der Krim zeige, dass freie Nationen zusammenstehen müssten. „Die Freiheit in Europa ist niemals garantiert“, fügte er hinzu. Russland unterstellte er im Zuge der Ukraine-Krise „dunkle Taktiken“.
„Die Zeiten von Imperien sind vorbei“
Obama hatte zuvor erstmals Poroschenko getroffen. Obama sagte nach dem Treffen vor Journalisten in Warschau, Amerika werde das Land langfristig unterstützen. „Die Vereinigten Staaten stehen hinter dem ukrainischen Volk - nicht nur in den kommenden Tagen oder Wochen, sondern in den kommenden Jahren“. Der amerikanische Präsident zeigte sich „zutiefst beeindruckt“ von Poroschenkos Vision für das Land..................http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/europa/rede-in-warschau-obama-wer-einen-verbuendeten-angreift-greift-alle-an-12971790.html
4/6/14