Khomchak: No blackmail able to change Ukraine’s course towards NATO

“On April 30, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel General Ruslan Khomchak, by video conference took part in an extended meeting of the Joint Multinational Coordinating Committee on Military Cooperation and Defense Reform (JMCC) with representatives of the Armed Forces of Canada and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Poland, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Denmark, the United States of America and the NATO Mission in Ukraine,” reads the statement by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine posted on Facebook.

At the beginning of his speech, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine expressed his personal gratitude to the present for their participation in the work of the JMCC.

“Despite the current partial withdrawal of some Russian units from the borders of Ukraine to the points of permanent deployment, we do not rule out the repetition of this practice in the future. Moscow is increasingly turning to ‘muscle play’ and direct blackmail of Ukraine in the absence of other methods of influence. Under such conditions, the highly motivated and combat-ready Armed Forces of Ukraine remain one of the main deterrents to the Kremlin aggressor,” Khomchak said.

During the meeting, the co-chairs of all JMCC subcommittees and working groups were heard on the current state of transformation of the relevant military authorities (J (G, A, N) 1 - 9) according to NATO standards.

The meeting participants summarized the activities of the JMCC in recent times and agreed on new tasks for 2021.

“The JMCC is not only an effective platform for military cooperation, but also one of the mechanisms for coordinating efforts to achieve interoperability between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and NATO troops,” reads the statement.

Moreover, Khomchak stressed several issues during an extended meeting of the JMCC.

It was noted that Ukraine as a state and the Armed Forces of Ukraine as its main defense component are considering their future as part of the North Atlantic Alliance. “To achieve this strategic goal, appropriate planning of measures to bring troops and military authorities at all levels in line with the standards and procedures used in NATO's armed forces and in the Alliance's multinational headquarters is carried out,” the statement notes.

It was underscored during the meeting that any blackmail or pressure from eastern and northern neighbors is not able to change the strategic course of Ukraine. “Moreover, in recent years we have seen a significant increase in the number of supporters among the population of Ukraine of joining the Alliance in all regions of our country without exception. Today, the country has the highest level of public support for NATO membership in recent history,” said Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak.

The second issue on which the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine focused is the training of Ukrainian service members in the current training missions of the United States (JMTG-U), Great Britain (ORBITAL), Canada (UNIFIER) and Lithuania (LMTM-U).

Major General Charles Miller, Co-Chair of the US JMCC, Director of Policy, Strategy, Partnering and Capabilities, U.S. European Command (EUCOM), thanked the Ukrainian side for revealing a national approach to reforming the Ukrainian Armed Forces and expressed its intention to deepen military cooperation in professional military education.

The issues of preparation by involving the forces of the partner countries in the Strategic Command and Staff Exercise of the Armed Forces of Ukraine  “Joint Endeavour 2021” were also discussed.

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