Some nine battalions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have already been trained in line with NATO and are performing tasks in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in Donbas, Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Viktor Muzhenko has said.

"Nine battalions have already been trained under these standards. They have already carried out respective actions in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation, and one more battalion started training in accordance with NATO standards almost a week ago, with the help of U.S. servicemen," he said in an interview with the Ukrainian service of the Voice of America during his working visit to the United States.

He noted that the task of switching to NATO standards by the end of 2020, which was declared by the Ukrainian leadership and determined in the Strategic Defense Bulletin of Ukraine, was "a truly ambitious task."

"The process has begun. It is continuing, and we are moving to standards and working out responses, taking into account, among other things, Ukrainian combat experience," Muzhenko said.

As reported, First Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Ivan Rusnak said on October 18 that eight Armed Forces battalions had already been trained in line with NATO standards. Rusnak also noted that the Ukrainian side of the joint Ukrainian-Polish-Lithuanian brigade (UkrPolLitBrig) did not belong to the mentioned number of Armed Forces units trained in line with NATO standards.