The Defense Ministry of Ukraine is reexamining approaches towards ensuring national defense and security and the Ukrainian Armed Forces is working towards switching to new standards of military training, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said.

In an interview with the Verkhovna Rada's newspaper "Voice of Ukraine," which was posted on the Defense Ministry's website on Wednesday, Poltorak said that in December 2014 the parliament adopted the law renouncing non-aligned status and established the country's course towards European integration and strengthen cooperation with NATO in order to meet the criteria needed to join the organization.

"The work continues to switch to new standards of combat readiness, training of troops (forces) and management agencies on all the levels, taking into consideration the experience of the ATO [anti-terrorist operation] and the requirements of compatibility with NATO states' armies," Poltorak said.

Poltorak said that the Defense Ministry was reexamining general approaches towards ensuring Ukraine's national security and defense, with the emphasis now own preparation for armed aggression against Ukraine.

According to Poltorak, after initial training, mobilized military personnel are sent to detachments at training grounds where they undergo operational coordination. Afterwards, the military personnel take exams to establish their level of training. They then participate in tactical military exercise which involves shooting.

"Only after that can they be sent to combat detachments," he added.