Washington pledges more security aid to Kiev

The United States has pledged hundreds of millions in security assistance to Ukraine.

Washington said Thursday that it will provide Ukraine with an additional $335 million in security assistance.

The news came after a meeting between US Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Washington on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit there.

Biden told the Ukrainian leader that Kiev’s move to form a “reform-oriented” government would prompt even further aid.

"The vice president welcomed the efforts of President Poroshenko to form a stable, reform-oriented government, and stressed that this step, as well as the enactment of needed reforms, are critical to unlocking international economic assistance, including the third $1 billion US loan guarantee," said the White House in a statement.

Last May, the US signed its second $1 billion loan deal for Ukraine to help it fight pro-Russians in the country’s flashpoint east and jolt its tattered economy.

Ukraine has witnessed spiraling violence after its eastern regions sought independence a couple of years ago.

Violence flared up in east Ukraine in April 2014, after Kiev deployed troops to the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk to suppress pro-Russians.

Since then, the US and some other Western countries have imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia over accusations that Moscow has been involved in the deadly crisis in Ukraine. Russia has denied the allegation.

Relations between Russia and the West specially strained after Crimea in southeast Ukraine declared independence from it on March 17, 2014 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum a day earlier.

The Kremlin has slapped restrictions on some food imports from the US, the EU, Norway, Australia and Canada in a tit-for-tat move.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk