MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) — Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko refused to name the NATO countries that had offered Kiev to deliver precision-guided weapons in his interview with the BBC on Saturday.
When asked whether it was true that "some NATO members promised you precision-guided weapons," Poroshenko said, "Yes," confirming his earlier statement during the NATO summit in Wales.
"This is confidential information," Poroshenko said when asked to name the countries.
"I will say that this is the first time Ukraine was offered truly modern weapons to protect its territory, and you should understand that this is not so that we can win this particular war, but rather for us to develop a European security system," he said.
The head of the foreign affairs committee at the Russian State Duma Alexei Pushkov expressed concern over the NATO countries volunteering to support Ukraine militarily. He said the support should come with specific instructions, adding that offers of precision-guided weapons encouraged a military solution to the conflict.
On the eve of the second meeting of a trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine in Minsk, the representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) agreed to a ceasefire between Kiev and independence supporters that started at 6:00 p.m. Kiev time (15:00 GMT) on Friday.
The contact group also agreed to the international monitoring of the truce’s implementation, the exchange of all prisoners and the opening of humanitarian corridors.
