NATO gives Ukraine military equipment during President Poroshenko’s visit to Brussels
The North-Atlantic Alliance promised that Ukraine would be given military equipment during a visit by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to Brussels, Evropeyska Pravda reported, citing a source familiar with the details of the shipment.
On Thursday, in a joint press-conference with Poroshenko in Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg promised that the Alliance would soon deliver secure communications equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As it turns out, the promise was fulfilled that same day.
Ukrainian Representative to NATO Vadym Prystaiko confirmed the delivery. “Yes, the delivery project has already been completed,” he said.
NATO did not comment officially on the date of delivery, but did disclose several details about the contents of the assistance package.
“The communication equipment mentioned by the secretary general was financed by the NATO C4 (Command, Control, Communications and Computers) trust fund. We will give the Armed Forces of Ukraine encrypted radio communication devices and portable GPS trackers,” a NATO official noted.
In this assistance package, the secure radio stations mentioned by Stoltenberg have key significance. Not only will they provide a secure communication channel, they are also resilient to the jamming devices used by the Russians on the demarcation line in the Donbas, a source in the Alliance explained.
Another source said that the cargo was meant to be delivered to Ukraine on Thursday using a plane belonging to Air Ukraine. Since there was only one such plane in Brussels at the time, the one which brought the official delegation, President Poroshenko apparently had to share the plane with the military cargo from NATO on his return flight.
The Ukrainian Mission to NATO later reported that the systems for the Armed Forces were already en route.
“As part of the implementation of the NATO Trust Fund to improve the command, control, communications and computer systems (C4), today Ukraine has received equipment which will significantly improve the control and communications systems of our Armed Forces. The cargo is already in the air, and will soon reach its destination,” the mission posted on Facebook.
The Ukrainian Mission to NATO thanked Australia, the UK, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, the US and Turkey for providing the assistance package as part of the C4 trust fund.