On August 4, Minister of Defence of Ukraine Andrii Taran held a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Melinda Simmons.

The parties discussed the state and prospects of bilateral cooperation, in particular, the security situation in the East of Ukraine, as well as UK's assistance in enhancing the capabilities of the Ukrainian Navy, the state and prospects of establishing and operating the Defence Policy Directorate of the Ministry of Defence as well as granting Ukraine with the NATO’s EOP status and further steps in this direction.

Melinda Simmons reaffirmed irreversibility of the United Kingdom's policy of supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, noted the progress made in reforming the Defence Ministry, and assured of support for Ukraine in strengthening its defence capabilities, adopting Euro-Atlantic approaches and standards, as well as integrating them into the Armed Forces.

Ukrainian Defence Minister expressed words of gratitude to the British partners for their assistance in training of Ukrainian units within the Operation ORBITAL, as well as invited the British side to take an active part in exercises “Combined Endeavour 2020”, which will take place at the end of September.

Andrii Taran and Melinda Simmons agreed to continue mutually beneficial cooperation in the security and defence sphere in order to increase the combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ensure stability in the region, as well as to improve interoperability with the Armed Forces of NATO member states.