You're reading: NATO secretary general to signal start of drills in Lviv Oblast, to attend Ukrainian NSDC sitting

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will visit Ukraine on Sept. 21-22 at the invitation of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

In the course of the visit, the Ukrainian president and the [NATO] secretary general will signal the start of the Ukraine-NATO exercises practicing the cleanup of emergency situations, Ukraine 2015, at the Yavoriv range in the Lviv Oblast. In addition, the president has invited the alliance leader to a theme meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) dedicated to the Ukrainian security and defense reforms,” the Ukrainian presidential press service said on Sept. 18.

“These are not military exercises; they will be held by NATO but they are international drills dedicated to the cleanup of emergency situations and civil defense. Ukraine has hosted drills of this kind before,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ihor Dolhov said earlier.

After the drills begin, Stoltenberg will go to Kyiv “to attend other events,” Dolhov said.

“Two new programs – a project in the field of demining and the promotion of Ukraine’s capacities in the field of strategic communications – will kick off during the visit of the alliance secretary general to Ukraine,” the deputy minister said.

The NATO Support and Procurement Organization and the Ukrainian Defense Ministry have approved a supplementary agreement “to enable the delivery of materials and machinery to Ukraine for the reform of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ logistics system.”