The United States intends this year in the Ukrainian issue to move from providing aid to the country to repel the aggression to assistance in the defense reforms, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has stated.

"Our goal in 2016 is to move beyond emergency response that deals with the immediate crisis of Russia's invasion and focus on defense cooperation aimed at helping Ukraine build the NATO-standard military structures and institutions," the official said at Ukraine Defense and Security Forum 2016.

The ambassador stressed he welcomes the stated position of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Minister of Defense Stepan Poltorak to further reform the security sector.

"We want to see Ukraine continue to make progress in developing modern military doctrines, to implement the excellent recommendations that the RAND Corporation has made for defense sector reform, and to improve Ukrainian interoperability with NATO partners and allies," Pyatt said.