Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said that arms and equipment for the National Guard and the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) will be purchased this year.

"Purchases will be made this year. They continue. The prime minister held a respective meeting... By the end of the year, as part of defense contracts, we will purchase a sufficient amount of BTR-4Es, BTR-3Es and Grads and domestically produced equipment for the National Guard and the Armed Forces alone," he told journalists in Kyiv on Wednesday when attending an international specialized exhibition "Arms and Security 2014."

"I think that following today's exhibition and following conversations with our suppliers (we are working as part of the defense order, direct contracts and through government funding from the reserve fund)... we will modify the current contracts according to the latest achievements that they managed to demonstrate today," Avakov said.

He also said that the work of defense enterprises in Ukraine today "is a big backlog for 2015, taking into account the challenges given to us by the war."