TOKYO, March 3. /TASS/. Kiev expects to receive weapons supplies not only from the United States, but also from other countries, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Tuesday during his visit to Japan.
In an interview with Japan’s Nikkei newspaper, Klimkin said it is "critically important" to increase the capability of Ukrainian military forces. "We need additional defensive weapons," said the minister.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov earlier warned that the US arms supplies to Ukraine would become a blow to the peace agreements reached on February 12 in Minsk.
"It would be a major blow to the Minsk agreements and would blow up the whole situation," Ryabkov said, adding that this would again confirm that those who back such moves are guided only by their own geopolitical views on the need to contain Russia.
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Last week, first deputy chief of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said Kiev had concluded contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars both on exports and imports of weapons at the IDEX-2015 exhibition in Abu Dhabi. The official said the majority contracts had been reached with US companies.
Foreign Ministry of the United Arab Emirates later refuted claims by Ukrainian officials on alleged plans of the Emirates' government to export armaments to Ukraine.