Over 70 Ukrainian Combat Engineers to Attend NATO Courses in Slovakia

Over 70 Ukrainian field engineers will attend refresher courses, run by their colleagues in Slovakia this year in 2015 as part of a NATO training program.

PRAGUE (Sputnik) — Over 70 Ukraine combat engineers will be trained by Slovak specialists in 2015 as part of a NATO training program, Slovak Defense Minister Martin Glvac told reporters Friday.

"Over 70 Ukrainian field engineers will attend refresher courses, run by their colleagues in Slovakia this year," Glvac said Friday, adding that the first 15 sappers are due to arrive in Slovakia in February.

Glvac also stated that refresher training for Ukrainian military was introduced at the end of 2014.

"By organization of such courses, we continue the implementation of our commitments [to provide help to the Ukrainian army], made after the NATO summit in Wales six months ago, as well as during talks with our Ukrainian partners at the end of last year," Glvac emphasized.

His remark came at a time when NATO has increased its activities in Eastern Europe amid alleged Russian involvement in the Ukrainian crisis.

Slovakia, a NATO member state since 2004, has pledged support to Ukraine, including training its military. The move was hailed in Kiev as Ukraine has been striving to increase its cooperation with NATO.