Kyiv has sent an official request to Washington for the purchase of air defense systems to meet the needs of the Ukrainian army, announced Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United States Valeriy Chaly, informs Novoye Vremya news outlet.

He said that the request was made at “the highest level” during the meeting of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US President Donald Trump in Brussels, as well as during the meetings of Ukraine's representatives with the US …

President Petro Poroshenko instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to prepare proposals for the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) meeting on securing Ukrainian interests in the Azov Sea in view of Russia's actions in this region.

“I look forward to proposals regarding promoting our interests in the Azov Sea. I strongly believe that the current situation is absolutely unacceptable and I’m not going to just accept it,” Poroshenko said at a meeting with leaders of foreign …

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has confirmed that Ukraine intends to end the Russian-Ukrainian Friendship Treaty.

“Today we have come adequately prepared and legally protected for the next step: terminating the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which through Moscow’s fault has been anachronistic for a long time already,” Poroshenko said at a meeting with the Ukrainian ambassadors in Kyiv.

“I am expecting the Ministry of Foreign …

Joint command and staff exercises of the Command of the Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Storm-2018 began on the Black Sea coast. During the maneuvers, it is planned to work out actions to repel armed aggression from the maritime direction, reported the press service of the Ukrainian Naval Forces.

 “The purpose of the exercises is to practice command of troops during repulsing an armed aggression from the sea. They are aimed at improving the practical skills of commanders,” said the …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump had a telephone call conversation, during which they discussed the situation in Syria,reported the representative of the German government Steffen Seibert.

It is noted that Germany and the United States share a common concern in connection with the humanitarian crisis in the Idlib region, as well as the movement of government forces on the holdings of Islamist and jihadist groups in this province.

Merkel and Trump "called on Russia …

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu has announced the largest military exercise since 1981, involving roughly 300,000 soldiers and 36,000 units of ground equipment, RBC news agency reports.

Speaking to reporters in Abakan, Shoygu said that the Vostok 2018 (“East 2018”) drills will be held from 11 to 15 September, and will be the largest since 1981.

“In some way they repeat ‘Zapad-81’, but in some way, perhaps, they are even larger in scale,” Shoygu commented. According to him, the drills …

NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu confirmed that Russia is amassing warships off the coast of Syria.

“The Russian Navy has dispatched substantial naval forces to the Mediterranean, including several ships equipped with modern cruise missiles,” she said.

On Tuesday, the Russian media reported on Moscow’s largest amassing of naval forces since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2015.

The reinforcements coincide with a statement by Moscow’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, that …

Representative of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the EU Mykola Tochytskyi stated at a meeting with journalists that Russia’s Representative to the OSCE tried to disrupt the visit of EU diplomats to the Donbas in June by informing them that Ukraine had plans to shoot down the helicopter carrying them, Evropeyska Pravda reports.

According to Tochytskyi, the warning had been sent in early summer ahead of the EU’s political and security committee representatives’ visit to Ukraine on …