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Poroshenko: Lithuania to Supply Ukraine With Military Aid

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, right, greets Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaite in Kyiv

Lithuania is to provide Ukraine with some military aid to help in its fight against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday, November 24th.

It was not clear, however, if Lithuania was following fellow NATO member the United States in providing non-lethal military equipment, or supplying weaponry. NATO countries are reluctant to risk being drawn into conflict with Russia by arming a non-member.

“We have agreed on supplies of concrete elements of concrete armaments for the Ukrainian armed forces,” Poroshenko said after talks with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.

“This is real help,” he told a joint news conference.

Pressed for details, Grybauskaite said only: “Ukraine will receive all the support available for Lithuania and what Lithuania has.”

Ukraine has pressed NATO countries to provide weapons to help it defend itself against attacks by well-armed Russian-backed separatists who, before a ceasefire came into effect, inflicted heavy losses on government forces in their fight to hive off parts of Ukraine’s east.

Vice President Joe Biden, in Kyiv last week, voiced strong support for Ukraine in its confrontation with Russia but did not offer additional military aid, though a consignment of U.S. radars capable of pinpointing the origin of mortar fire has begun to arrive.

Asked whether Ukraine wanted to join NATO, Poroshenko held out the prospect of a referendum in several years’ time, but said attempts to join now would cause “more harm than good.”

Before the confrontation with Russia, Ukrainians showed little interest in joining NATO, and the country’s constitution specifies a “non-bloc,” unaligned status.

But since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March and Moscow’s open backing for the pro-Russian rebellions, popular support for joining NATO has shot up. One survey by the polling group “Rating” found 51 percent in favor and 25 percent against.

In other regional developments, Ukraine’s energy minister said on Monday, that Russia had suspended coal supplies to Ukraine, a blow to domestic energy suppliers who are struggling with a severe lack of raw fuel for power plants due to a separatist conflict in the industrial east.

On November 12 Prodan said Ukraine would have to rely on Russian coal to get through the winter after the war in the east disrupted supplies to thermal power plants (TPP), which provide around 40 percent of the country’s electricity, and left reserves critically low ahead of the cold season.

“According to information received from DTEK and [state-run] Tsentrenergo, coal supplies from Russia have been suspended,” an energy ministry spokesman quoted Prodan as saying.

Ukraine’s biggest private energy company DTEK said the suspension of supplies was unexpected.

“The company received no official notification about the delay in shipments. Now we are trying to find out the reasons and circumstances of the current situation,” DTEK said in a statement.

DTEK, part of the business empire of Ukrainian tycoon Rinat Akhmetov, said it had imported a total of 1.3 million tons of coal from Russia since August.

Ukraine, which needs to import around 1 million tons of coal per month to meet its electricity needs, signed a supply deal with South Africa to boost reserves, but earlier this month the supplier discontinued shipments, citing concerns about political instability.

Ukraine’s reliance on Russian coal is a serious setback to the country’s efforts to lessen energy dependence on its powerful neighbor.

Kyiv’s relations with the Kremlin are at an all-time low following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and its involvement in the eastern conflict in which over 4,300 have been killed.

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