The truce in the army operation zone in Donbas should be used to the utmost for training and equipping the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said.

"It is our task to exploit the truce to the utmost for sitting down at the school desk, for using our ranges, for increasing the number of military hardware to the maximum, for equipping and supplying our army to the maximum so that we become strong and tough. We have taken a big step in the recent year but there is still a lot to be done," he said at a training and methodological conference of deputy military unit commanders attended by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on Wednesday.

This is the first time the chief of state - supreme commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is visiting a conference of this level, Poltorak said. The minister added that the conference was initiated by the president.

"I would like to tell you that the president, the Ukrainian Armed Forces and Ukrainian patriots are fully aware of their responsibility and the tasks set by you. We will certainly accomplish them," Poltorak said.