Poroshenko, Biden Discuss US Military Aid to Ukraine

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Vice President Joe Biden held a phone conversation late on Saturday to discuss US military aid to war-torn Ukraine, Poroshenko's press service said in a statement.

"The interlocutors talked about the implementation of the Minsk accords and coordinated future steps, as well as about US aid – both financial and in the sphere of military-technical cooperation," the statement said.

This came a day after President Poroshenko announced that Washington had made a crucial and long-awaited decision to deliver "defensive" weaponry to Ukraine.

Earlier, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said that Kiev was planning to spend $3.8 billion from the IMF $15-billion aid package to buy military equipment, according to Germany's Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten magazine. Most of the contracts will go to US concerns, like Technologies Network Corporation.

The United States has been assisting Ukraine with economic and non-lethal military support since the Kiev government began a military operation against independence fighters in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian leaders have also asked EU nations for lethal arms supplies.

The Obama administration earlier this week it will provide an additional $75 million in non-lethal military aid to Ukraine to help Kiev-led forces in the fight against armed militia in the contested southeast of the country.