Ukraine, Sweden sign updated agreement on defense cooperation

Ukraine and Sweden have signed an updated agreement on defense cooperation, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service has reported.

During their meeting in Stockholm, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov and Minister of Defense of Sweden Peter Hultqvist signed an updated agreement on cooperation in the field of defense, the report said.

"The partnership between Ukraine and Sweden is developing intensively, and defense cooperation demonstrates, in my opinion, the greatest dynamics. Today, by putting our signatures under an updated agreement on cooperation in the field of defense, we have taken another and very important step in this direction," Reznikov said.

During their meeting, both parties discussed the security situation in Ukraine and neighboring countries, among other things, in the context of Russia manufacturing a migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border.

According to Reznikov, the response of the entire civilized world to actions by Russia that pose a threat to the whole of Europe should be proactive and preventive.

"It is necessary to make the price of escalation unacceptable for Russia, and the cost of temporary occupation of part of Ukrainian territory is constantly growing. Then we will be able to prevent the worst and continue the political and diplomatic process," Reznikov added.

Reznikov is on a working visit to Sweden. The minister is accompanied on the visit by Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksandr Polishchuk, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Yevhen Moisiyuk, and other officials.

Photo credit: mil.gov.ua

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