Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze met with Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Alexander Williamson.

The Vice Prime Minister stressed that a political and military dialog between the two countries remains intensive and appreciated Great Britain's support of reforms in Ukraine. In particular, she stressed that the British assistance to Ukraine in defense planning, developing of combat capabilities of the Armed Forces and  training of servicemen is incredibly important.

The Vice Prime Minister also expressed support for Great Britain in Salisbury case and condemned Russia's aggressive actions.

Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze stressed that hybrid threats from the Russian side impede not only Ukraine: "The hot phase of the war against Ukraine continues, but it is also a war against the entire western world, just in this case it is so-called "soft war".  The strengthening of the unity of the western community can prevent this", she underscored.

The Vice Prime Minister recalled the Interdepartmental training on building a national system of resilience to the threats will be held on October 8-10 in Ukraine with the support of the British side.

Speaking about Ukraine's further cooperation with Great Britain, UK Defenсe Secretary noted that for Great Britain it is essential to get first-hand information  about Ukraine’s  responses to hybrid threats from Russia. "A year ago, we did not even imagine that such an incident, which happened  in Salisbury, might occur. Having faced a full range of aggression from Russia, Ukraine has unparalleled experience in detecting, responding to and investigating hybrid threats. It is of utmost importance for the UK to cooperate  with Ukraine, because the British people are also aware of this danger", Gavin Alexander Williamson said.

While discussing the implementation of the provisions of the Law of Ukraine "On National Security", the parties touched upon Britain's support of reforms in the defense sector of Ukraine. In particular, Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze expressed interest in Britain's experience of approaching NATO standards in the management of the defense industry.

The parties consider that there is a high potential for cooperation in the field of training Ukrainian military personnel, in particular, on the multi-level management of defense structures, as well as training courses for Ukrainian specialists, including senior staff members in British military educational institutions.

The Secretary of State for Defence believes that for effective implementation of changes it is necessary to get not only knowledge, but also to revise the approaches to its implementation.

The sides placed a special emphasis on the fact that at present there are all prerequisites for strengthening the development of professional military education in Ukraine.

Touching upon cooperation in the framework of NATO, the Vice Prime Minister highly praised the Great Britain's practical and political support of Ukraine in the Alliance. She also noted that the Government has set a core objective - to create conditions for Ukraine's membership in NATO which means effective reform and transition to NATO standards. In this regard, the key tool for Ukraine is Annual National Program of NATO-Ukraine cooperation, and the approaches to its formation will be shortly updated.