Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, in Kiev for talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, said Thursday the U.S. is actively considering providing defensive lethal weapons to assist Ukraine in fighting Russian separatists who control the eastern part of the country.

“On the defensive lethal weapons, we are actively reviewing it,” Mattis said at a joint news conference with Poroshenko. “I will go back now having seen the current situation, and be able to inform the secretary of state and the president in very specific terms what I recommend for the direction ahead.”