KIEV, UKRAINE (RADIO FREE EUROPE/CNN) - After meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Ukrainian President Poroshenko pledged that Ukraine would implement reforms to meet NATO standards by the year 2020.
"Our determination has been made evident by the large-scale reforms we have implemented in the last three years. They have already yielded notable results. We have created competent armed forces, and are now creating modern security services. We will continue putting our efforts into the whole package of reforms, including the security and defense sectors, so that we reach the NATO standards by 2020,” Poroshenko said on Monday.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, an alliance of 29 nations that includes the U.S., countries in Western and Eastern Europe as well as Turkey.
Ukraine has increased its cooperation with western powers following the war in eastern Ukraine with Russian-backed separatists. More than 9,000 people have died in the region where fighting ebbs and flows during ceasefires.
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