Czech, Romanian reps to help bring Ukrainian defence sector to NATO standards – Chief of Staff

"Both new NATO officials are familiar with the 'post-Soviet' defense system, have the experience of reforms in their own countries, so we expect constructive cooperation," Muzhenko wrote on his Facebook page on Friday morning after a meeting with Director of the NATO Liaison Office Alexander Vinnikov and the said officers. He assured that he will make every effort so that by 2020 they should meet the NATO standards and achieve full interoperability with the forces of the Alliance. As reported, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said earlier that NATO's comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine needs to be implemented by 2020. "The decisive actions of our partners have helped develop the document, which states that we can get access to as many assistance packages in as many areas as we are able to put into practical reforms that we have to complete, according to our strategic defense bulletin, in 2020 and fully bring the defense sector and the security sector to the NATO standards," Poroshenko said in a joint statement with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Kyiv on Monday. He noted that Ukraine is the only country which is not a NATO member, but which has received such an aid package and had an opportunity to hold separate meetings of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the summit in Wales in 2014 and in Poland in 2016.