Americas...:Kerry in Ukraine as Talk of Arming Kiev Grows

Home
- Middle East
  - Lebanon
  - Syria
  - Bahrain
  - Palestine
  - Zionist Entity
  - Yemen
  - Saudi Arabia
  - Iraq
  - More from Middle East
- Americas
- Asia-Pacific
  - Iran
  - Pakistan
  - Afghanistan
  - Koreas
  - India
  - China
  - More from Asian States
- Africa
  - Sudan
  - Egypt
  - Libya
  - Tunisia
  - Algeria
  - More from Africa
- Europe
  - United Kingdom
  - Russia
  - Turkey
  - France
  - Germany
  - Spain
  - Greece
  - Italy
  - More from Europe
ISLAMIC RESISTANCE
SECRETARY-GENERAL
Voices
Ten Day Dawn
The Biggest Crime
Martyr Leaders

Local Editor

US Secretary of State John Kerry was due in Kiev Thursday for talks focusing on the possibility of arming Ukrainian forces, a day after four civilians were killed when a hospital in east Ukraine was shelled.

His visit comes as international pressure grows for an immediate halt to surging violence that has seen hundreds of civilians killed in recent weeks as pro-Russian rebels push into government-held territory.

Speaking before Kerry's trip, President Petro Poroshenko said the events of recent days should encourage NATO to "provide more support to Ukraine, including the provision of modern weapons to protect itself and defend itself against the aggressor."

"We need a strong army with new weapons, this will help us to defend the civilian population against attacks by terrorists," he told German newspaper Die Welt.
US President Barack Obama's nominee for War Secretary said he was likely to support providing weapons - something that the administration has so far ruled out.

Ashton Carter, expected to be confirmed soon as Pentagon chief, told a US Senate committee that "we need to support the Ukrainians in defending themselves".
However, Vice President Joe Biden seemed less hawkish, telling German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung: "We have said since the beginning that there is no military solution to this crisis."
"We have no interest in a military escalation and insist on the opposite," he said, while adding that Washington could provide "help in the security field".

Carter's comments will be welcomed by Kiev's pro-Western leaders, hopeful that their long-standing demands for the US to supply weapons could be met.

Ukraine is believed to be seeking weapons including so-called "fire-and-forget" advanced anti-tank missiles to counter the heavy armor it says Moscow has poured over the border.

"What we need is exactly modern warfare, which we've been lacking all this time," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told Western journalists in Kiev.

While Kerry is not expected to pledge any arms during his trip, Klimkin said he nevertheless hoped for "deliverables" from the visit and from another meeting between Poroshenko and Biden in Munich.

Poroshenko said on Tuesday he had "no doubt" that the US and other NATO allies would eventually agree to start arming Ukraine.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team