Ukrainian army's reforms, transition to NATO standards very costly – Poltorak

11:03, 17.01.2019 1 min read

Ukraine's Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said Ukraine's complete transition to NATO standards requires a lot of money and could take a long time.

"It's not the armed forces and the Defense Ministry which will accede to NATO. It's the entire country. To achieve this, we need to work hard. We have defined the main standards for reforming the Defense Ministry and military according to Alliance standards by the end of 2020," Poltorak told journalists in Kyiv on Wednesday evening.

"But we can fully implement the transition to all NATO standards only when we have enough financial resources. Reforming the military is very expensive," Poltorak said, noting that Poland is in NATO for 20 years and "is still switching over to new equipment, new weapons and standards."

Poltorak said the transitioning to NATO standards without the necessary financial resources is a lengthy task.