(VOVworld) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has appointed John McCain, a US senator who has pressed Washington to send lethal weapons to war-torn Ukraine, as his advisor.
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| US senator John McCain spoke at a forum in Simi valley in California (Photo: AFP/ VNA) |
Ukraine's pro-Western authorities are putting together an advisory council to help the country conduct reforms and build global support for their country. McCain, the Republican senator for Arizona, will become a member of the council, along with Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of Sweden who is known for his vocal criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a decree released by Poroshenko's administration on Wednesday. The Advisory International Council of Reforms is to be headed by Mikheil Saakashvili, the fiercely pro-Western former president of Georgia, and will also include Elmar Brok, a member of the European Parliament, and economist Anders Aslund.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian government approved an action plan for engineering and technical work on the Ukrainian-Russian state border, as well as areas that are adjacent to the zones of Donbass and Crimea. Over the next three years the border is to be equipped with the necessary fortification structures.
According to the approved action plan, nearly 2,000 kilometers of the state border will be equipped with anti-tank moats, 17-meter high observation towers, monitoring devices, alarm and defensive systems, and defensive fortifications for border guards.