BERLIN, February 5. /TASS/. As the conflict in eastern Ukraine keeps escalating, Ukraine is in need of NATO countries' supplies of advanced weaponry, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in an interview with the German Die Welt.

According to the president, the latest developments in eastern Ukraine should encourage NATO to provide more support for the country by supplying advanced weaponry.

Poroshenko stressed that Ukraine wanted peace but Kiev needed a strong army and modern weapons to defend it.

Ukraine’s ambassador at NATO earlier said Ukraine had asked for additional military assistance from its partners, including NATO member countries. However, Igor Dolgov stressed that NATO can't supply lethal weapons to Ukraine as it it a military political organization.

It was also reported that dead bodies in NATO uniforms and a great number of US-made weapons had been recovered from under the debris of the Donetsk airport, a site of fierce fighting between the militia's of eastern Ukraine's unrecognized republics and government forces.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Ukrainian army “a NATO legion” that has the geopolitical goal to contain Russia.

United States may supply anti-tank missiles to Ukraine

The electronic edition of the New York Times said on Feb. 2 that General Phil Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Commander, US European Command, as well as many representatives of the Obama administration and Pentagon were looking at providing lethal military assistance to Ukraine. Germany’s government said it had information about United States’ plans to supply arms to Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal reported two days later that the US government is considering sending Javelin anti-tank missiles, small arms and munitions to Ukraine.

Chairman of the international committee of Russia’s Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev said Supplies of lethal weapons from the United States, if such a decision is finally taken, will only aggravate tensions in eastern Ukraine.