A group of U.S. advisors will arrive in Ukraine to help modernize the Ukrainian army, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has said in an interview with the Day newspaper.
He also said that the United States was increasing its security sector assistance to Ukraine by $46 million, adding that before, it was $70 million, and before the crisis it was less than $10 million. He noted that the total amount of assistance had increased by 15 times.
“[This] is a huge increase,” Pyatt said.
He said U.S. President Barack Obama conveyed that the United States would use this additional assistance to add new programs, including providing Ukraine with counter-mortar radar systems.
“[The issue concerns] a new program for military advice to the Ukrainian security establishment [and] a new program for advice and technical assistance on combat medicine, to help the Ukrainian forces deal more effectively with their injured personnel,” Pyatt said.
He said that the United States was already providing Ukraine with armored vehicles, night vision systems, counter-EOD disposal systems, and medical assistance.
“We are providing a very large volume of security assistance intended to help Ukraine defend itself,” he said.
However, Pyatt said that “there is no military solution to this conflict.”
“But we believe that Ukraine needs to be able to defend itself, and we will support that… All of the NATO countries are now providing assistance to Ukraine. We have encouraged all of the NATO countries to provide security assistance to Ukraine. So, we are going to do this directly with our European partners,” he said.
At the same time, Pyatt noted that the United States was also going to continue to support Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s peace plan and “the desire of the Ukrainian people to define their own future.”
