WASHINGTON, December 17 (Sputnik) — The United States should be providing crisis-torn Ukraine with heavy defensive weapons, former US ambassador to the country and current president of the US Institute of Peace, William B. Taylor, has told Sputnik.
"We should be providing Ukraine with the means to defend itself," Taylor told Sputnik Tuesday, adding that the defense weapon supplies should include "anti-tank weapons, anti-artillery weapons [and] radar".
According to Taylor, the Ukraine Freedom Support Act recently passed by Congress, which authorizes US President Barack Obama to supply Kiev with lethal and non-lethal weaponry is "clearly a step in the right direction".
The bill has not been signed by Obama yet and the administration of the US president has refused to answer Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's September plea to Congress to provide weapons to Kiev that launched a military operation against independence supporters in Ukraine's southeast this spring.
"It might be eastern Europeans that can provide those [weapons to Ukraine] better than the Americans," Taylor said, explaining that the military provisions from Ukraine's closest neighbors would be former Soviet weapons.
On Wednesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stressed that instead of discussing lethal weapon supplies to Ukraine those interested in resolving the internal crisis in the country should work on promoting the start of "an inclusive, all-encompassing political dialogue" on the Ukrainian issue.
