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NATO strengthens its office in Kiev — Stoltenberg

"We have stepped up our support to Ukraine on command and control, logistics, cyber defense and rehabilitation of wounded soldiers," he said

Jens Stoltenberg EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

Jens Stoltenberg

© EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

ANTALYA, May 13. /TASS/. NATO has strengthened its office in Kiev, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday at a news conference following a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission on the sidelines of the alliance’s foreign ministerial meeting.

"We have strengthened our office in Kiev. Provided advisors to the Government of Ukraine, including the Ministry of Defense," Stoltenberg said.

"We have stepped up our support to Ukraine on command and control, logistics, cyber defense and rehabilitation of wounded soldiers," he said.

"The Minsk agreements offer the best chances to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine by diplomatic means and dialogue," Stoltenberg said.

On February 12, participants of the Contact Group on settlement of the situation in east Ukraine signed in Minsk a document earlier agreed with leaders of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine).

The 13-point Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk agreements included cessation of fire from February 15, withdrawal of heavy armaments, as well as measures on long-term political settlement in Ukraine, in particular establishment of working subgroups.

The subgroups focus on four areas: economic issues and restoration of facilities; refugees, internally displaced persons and humanitarian assistance; political issues; security issues.

Clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militias during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April 2014, to regain control over the breakaway territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Lugansk People's republics and constitute parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, have left thousands dead and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee Ukraine’s embattled east.

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