The headline quotes what Guido Venturoni, chief of the NATO military committee, said at a press conference after he had completed talks with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk. Admiral Guido Venturioni (center in photo) arrived in Kyiv on a three-day visit during which he plans to meet leaders of the Ukrainian foreign affairs and military agencies, and visit the Ozerne Military Airfield, the Yavoriv Training Grounds (Lviv oblast), and the First Detached Special-Purpose Battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, to be sent to Kosovo in July this year as part of the Ukrainian-Polish operational group.
As has already been reported, the international KFOR force includes a 215- strong Ukrainian peacekeeping contingent. It is planned to replace the Ukrainian and Polish contingents next July by a joint Ukrainian-Polish KFOR operational group consisting of 260 Ukrainian peacekeepers and 530 Polish servicemen. A 30-odd-strong group of Ukrainian policemen also works in Kosovo. Ukraine intends to send to Kosovo in the near future a special police unit comprising 110 servicemen.
