Poroshenko endorses NSDC resolution on strengthening defense amid 'long-term aggression'
KYIV. May 8 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has endorsed the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) resolution of May 7, 2019, "On Measures Strengthening National Defense," the presidential press service said in a statement.
"The document acknowledges the need for further improvement of the national defense concept against the backdrop of the long-term aggression of the Russian Federation," the statement said.
The president ordered to set up an interagency working group to prepare proposals on strengthening national defense and appointed NSDC Deputy Secretary Serhiy Kryvonos as the group leader.
"The interagency working group is tasked with preparing the NSDC's proposals on ways to improve the territorial defense system, to enhance military patriotic training of the young, to prepare military reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other military formations, to counter the information aggression against Ukraine, and to support the activity of the resistance movement," the statement said.
The group comprises deputies of the Ukrainian defense, interior, foreign, education and science, youth and sports, veteran affairs, and information policy ministers, the chairman of the Ukrainian Security Service, the commander of the Ukrainian National Guard, and the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.
It may also involve representatives of the Verkhovna Rada's National Security and Defense Committee, the presidential administration, and the National Institute for Strategic Studies.