Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has urged NATO to do more to help his country's military as it struggles to quell a pro-Russian insurgency. He also appealed to the European Union for urgent financial help, reports GHN based on DW.
The Ukrainian premier said on Monday that, while visiting NATO headquarters in Brussels, he had asked the alliance for help in shaping a new defense and security strategy for his country.
"It's difficult for us to fight with a nuclear state that is armed to the teeth," Arseniy Yatsenyuk said, accusing Russia of seeking to eradicate an independent Ukraine.
Yatsenyuk said he had asked the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg "to improve the stance of the Ukrainian military and the National Guard."
Beyond that, the Ukrainian leader gave no further specifics, while Stoltenberg did not comment on NATO's response to the request.
Moscow unilaterally annexed the Crimea peninsula - which was until then ruled from Kyiv - in March this year. In the intervening period, Ukrainian forces have been combating a pro-Moscow rebellion in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.