Poroshenko, Trump reach common vision on defense cooperation
22 September 2017
Ukrainian President
Poroshenko said he and U.S. President Trump have a common vision on a “new
level” of defense cooperation, as reported by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
“We discussed all areas of this cooperation, including cooperation with the
Defense Ministry and other institutions,” Poroshenko told a televised briefing
after his Sept. 21 meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the United Nation
General Assembly. “We discussed in detail all the direction of expanding this
cooperation, beginning with cooperation on the West Point military academy and
concluding with cooperation with the Defense Ministry and other institutions,”
he said.
In particular, the
U.S. fully supports the Ukrainian proposal, first submitted in 2015, for a UN
peacekeeping force in occupied Donbas, Poroshenko said. He didn’t say whether
he reached any agreement with Trump on receiving defensive weapons from the
U.S., reported RFE/RL. Funding for such weaponry was approved by the U.S.
Senate this week. In his turn, Trump kept his comments brief, RFE/RL reported.
“Ukraine is coming along pretty well,” he said.
Poroshenko’s lack of comment on lethal, defensive weapons indicates that Trump
hasn’t given his green light and is weighing his options. As we’ve said, we
don’t believe he will authorize them as a military and political equilibrium
has been reached in Donbas that could be disrupted, with negative consequences.
Yet these weapons aren’t the only issue in U.S.-Ukrainian military cooperation,
which is intensifying nonetheless.
