KYIV. Jan 10 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian Armed Forces are building up their strength and should be ready to act fully in line with NATO standards by 2020, President Petro Poroshenko said.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces will be organized and able to act fully in line with NATO standards in keeping with the law on national security in 2020," the presidential press service quoted Poroshenko as saying at a meeting with residents of the town of Zdolbuniv, the Rivne region, on Thursday.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been recreated over the past four years, and "today these are hundreds of thousands of warriors who are properly trained, well-armed, and provided with everything necessary, with the clothing, medical, food, combat, housing, and other kinds of support," he said.
"The Ukrainian army is capable of worthily opposing the enemy and is building up its strength: the budget allots a sum exceeding 5% of GDP for defense and security needs," he said.
"We are investing part of these resources in the defense industry, restoring the work of design bureaus, and creating new jobs in the defense industry. Each month, the Ukrainian forces receive dozens and hundreds of new and modernized weapons and items of hardware, including planes and missiles," Poroshenko said.
Poroshenko said he was sure that Ukraine's way to the European Union and NATO would secure Ukrainian borders and bolster the country's sovereignty. "Our way is to peace, but not based on terms of surrender, which the Russian fifth column is offering us, but on terms of Ukraine's national interests," he said.