NATO approves new funding for Ukrainian military forces

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has approved new funding for Ukraine’s military forces.
Rasmussen made the announcement on Wednesday after the foreign ministers of NATO member states met in Brussels with their Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin, Russia Today reported.
The funding, which is to come in the form of “trust funds,” is intended to further strengthen the Ukrainian military, though no specific amounts have been allocated yet.
Rasmussen further vowed NATO’s support for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s peace plan, describing it as “a major step forward.”
During the meeting, the ministers also discussed ways to strengthen NATO’s capacity to assist its partners in need of improved military and security capabilities.
“We agreed that the alliance will provide such support more systematically and more swiftly. We will work on ways to create a pool of military and civilian experts who are ready to deploy when needed and to strengthen coordination with other international actors,” Rasmussen said.
In the wake of the Ukrainian crisis, NATO has been using what it describes as the “Russian threat” to justify its build-up of military forces in Central and Eastern Europe.
The development comes as US Secretary of State John Kerry urged NATO back in April to return to its original goal of fending off Russia.
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin warned earlier this month that if NATO is using the Ukraine situation to “beef up its own muscles,” it is implementing a “detrimental” policy.
Georgia was also included in the agenda of NATO’s Brussels meeting, with ministers agreeing on a package that will help align the central Asian country “closer to NATO.”