Western countries at a meeting of the contact group for the defense of Ukraine agreed to modernize the Ukrainian army in the long term, said Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren.

" ) Oleksiy Reznikov provided an update on the situation in Ukraine. We agreed to step up our military assistance and modernize the Ukrainian army in the long term,"

The virtual meeting chaired by Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin was attended by representatives of 44 states, NATO and the European Union, as well as Reznikov and representatives of the Ukrainian special services. During the meeting, Austin urged to step up military assistance to Ukraine.