Ukraine, Britain agree to expand military cooperation

KIEV, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine and Britain have reached an agreement on expanding the Orbital training mission and working on strengthening the Ukrainian Navy, Ukrainian news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda reported on Wednesday.

This agreement was reached during the visit of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Ruslan Khomchak to Britain on April 19-20 and his meeting with the British Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter.

Khomchak thanked Britain for its assistance in increasing the combat capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their compatibility with NATO troops.

Carter, in turn, said the British Armed Forces had trained over 20,000 Ukrainian servicemen as part of bilateral military cooperation. He also said the British side leads the initiative to train the Ukrainian Navy and supports defense reform in Ukraine.

Britain-led Operation Orbital, a training program for the Ukrainian armed forces, was established in 2015 following the request of the Ukrainian authorities.