KIEV, September 2. /TASS/. Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has adopted a draft of a new state military doctrine, the Ukrainian news agency Ukrainskiye Novosti reported Wednesday.
On Tuesday, September 1, the Ukrainian government sent a draft of the doctrine to the Council.
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According to Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, "the draft of the military doctrine for the first time in the history of Ukraine’s independence defines the enemy and aggressor, which Russia is".
After consideration by Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, the document is to be approved by the Ukrainian president’s decree, Yatsenyuk explained at a briefing in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa.
On August 25, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said it completed compiling drafts of the key strategic documents of defense planning: the Military Doctrine of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Security and Defense Sector Development Concept, the Concept of the State Targeted Defense Program for Development of Armaments and Military Hardware of Ukraine’s Armed Forces for 2015-2020, as well as the Strategic Defense Bulletin of Ukraine.
The Russian authorities have repeatedly denied Western and Ukrainian accusations of aggression in Ukraine, including "annexation" of Crimea, because Crimea reunified with Russia voluntarily after a referendum, as well as claims that Moscow could in any way be involved in hostilities in Ukraine’s east.