Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed the need for further modernization of the Ukrainian Armed Forces under NATO standards when speaking in Severodonetsk, in the Luhansk region.

Poroshenko met with military participants in the special operation in Donbas on Wednesday, Ukraine's presidential press service said.

The Ukrainian leader underpinned that the Ukrainian army built up its fighting strength considerably over the past year and completed the transition from the use of separate integrated units to that of proper army units, which are combined in task groupings. Three defense belts have been organized in the eastern direction, more than 410 company and regiment centers of resistance have been equipped and another 70 are being equipped now, Poroshenko said.

Over 3,600 items of new and modernized weapons, and military equipment, were supplied to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2015, as well as 402,000 in the numbers of rockets and ordnance of different purposes, according to Poroshenko.

A number of projects have been started in the area of state procurements, management of state companies, material support and food supply, troops feeding and housing, he revealed.

The material support system is being adjusted to NATO standards, Poroshenko announced: 13 new material support standards took effect in 2015; troops were provided with almost 100,000 bullet-proof jackets and the equal number of kevlar helmets, 336,000 kits of summer field uniforms, 216,000 cold-weather coats, and more than 100,000 sleeping bags in 2015.