LONDON — The United States and Ukraine signed a new partnership document on Thursday that will enhance Ukraine’s defenses and allow for more cooperation between the two countries on reforming Ukraine’s military structure. As part of that agreement, Defense Secretary Ash Carter has appointed retired Army Gen. John Abizaid to be senior adviser to Ukraine.
Carter and Ukrainian Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak signed the Partner Concept during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in London.
“This Partner Concept will build on the strong partnership between the U.S. and Ukraine and will enhance the effectiveness of U.S. security assistance efforts,” according to a readout of the meeting.
Carter spoke with reporters about the new agreement briefly at the airport in England before flying to Norway. He said it will cover assistance on everything from training to acquisition.
“It’s about Ukrainian capability for defending its own territory, that’s been the objective of all of our assistance to Ukraine so it continues in the same vein,” Carter said. “It just allows us greatly to strengthen that and get it off an ad hoc basis of the last two years reacting to events and put it on, in this case a five-year horizon.”
Carter said he had personally appealed to Abizaid to take on the advisory role, which the Ukrainian defense minister said he welcomed. Abizaid formerly served as a commander of U.S. Central Command.
“Gen. Abizaid will provide authoritative advice to Minister Poltorak and other senior Ukrainian officials as Ukraine aims to implement reforms designed to bring its Armed Forces in line with Western principles and standards, such as enhancing democratic civilian control of the military, transitioning to a NATO-interoperable staff structure, and combating corruption,” the readout said.
