Dear Mr. Stoltenberg,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to be in the NATO Headquarters today and continue sincere and consistent dialogue with my friend NATO Secretary General Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, which was efficiently started a few weeks ago in the course of the visit of Mr. Stoltenberg to Ukraine, where we participated in the joint military training and where the NATO Secretary General took part in the NSDC session for the first time.

I think that these are very symbolic steps that characterize the level of relationship and trust between Ukraine and NATO.

In the morning, I visited the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and the NATO Special Operations Headquarters having a fruitful conversation with Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Philip M. Breedlove.

It is always a pleasure to be in a circle of true friends and allies. In these difficult times, NATO demonstrates a reliable format of support and we are grateful for this assistance.

I am grateful to the North Atlantic Alliance and personally to Mr. Secretary General for this feeling and for a strong solidarity and support for Ukraine in times of tough security challenges.

We exchanged opinions on the enhancement of interaction for the provision of adequate response to the increasing military presence of the Russian aggressor in the region, inter alia, in Donbas. I informed Mr. Stoltenberg on the number of Russian occupation troops in the east of Ukraine. By the way, today, Russian President publicly confirmed the presence of the Russian troops in the occupied east for the first time.

We discussed the situation in the occupied Crimea and the growing militarization of the peninsula. It is clear that we can neutralize this threat solely by joint and coordinated actions.

We outlined plans for the future and discussed the holding of the NATO Summit in Warsaw. I informed the NATO Secretary General on the results of my negotiations with the President of Poland and confirmed willingness of the Ukrainian party to participate in the NATO events in 2016.

With joint and specific steps, we are paving the way to achieving our goal.

The goal of Ukraine is to ensure full interoperability between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the NATO Armed Forces by 2020. This is the roadmap enshrined in the Military Doctrine adopted by the NSDC of Ukraine. I am sure we will decisively implement these reforms.

Another goal is to execute a complex of domestic political and defense reforms to ensure that we have reached the criteria of NATO.

I am grateful for the assurance of NATO's readiness to continue providing comprehensive practical, advisory and logistical support to Ukraine.

I am confident that after today's signature of the Roadmap of Military-Technical Cooperation between Ukraine and NATO, we will have a significant growth of this format of support.

In the near future, we are planning to sign several documents aimed at strengthening Ukraine's defense capacity.

Once again, I would like to thank NATO Secretary-General, Mr. Stoltenberg for a very meaningful conversation of true friends and express full readiness of the Ukrainian side to continue this dialogue. Today's meeting in the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe and the NATO Special Operations Headquarters vividly describes the fact that the Ukraine-NATO relations are at the highest level today.

Thank you for that, Mr. Secretary General.