On Tuesday, June 2, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran during a visit to the Federal Republic of Germany handed over materials proving the presence of Russian armed forces in Donbas, and also discussed building up bilateral Ukrainian-German cooperation.

During talks with the Federal Minister of Defense of Germany, Minister of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Taran discussed issues related to the reconciliation of security aspects of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine and increase of bilateral Ukrainian-German cooperation, the press service of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine reported.

The parties also discussed involvement of international support mechanisms within the Normandy format.

"The Ukrainian side stressed the invariability of positions on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in the East of Ukraine. In addition, Andriy Taran handed over materials with evidence of the presence of active units of the Russian Federation in the east of Ukraine. The minister of defense also drew the attention of the German side to the inadmissibility of obstructing the activities of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as the active militarization of the occupied Crimea," the ministry said.

In addition, the Head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry provided information on the situation in the Joint Forces Operation area, as well as measures taken to implement the agreements of the Paris Summit under the Normandy format of December 9, 2019.

It is noted that particular attention was paid to the development of military-technical cooperation. The German side expressed support for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in its intentions to develop the critical capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"Following the meetings, it was agreed to continue the strategic dialogue at the level of the heads of defense departments of Ukraine and Germany. In order to strengthen bilateral relations, the minister of defense of Ukraine invited the Federal Minister of Defense of Germany to pay a visit to Ukraine in the second half of 2020," the ministry said.