U.S. weighs more lethal aid for Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine — The United States special envoy for Ukraine said Saturday that Washington would consider providing more armaments to the country, whose army is fighting with Russia-backed separatist rebels in the east.

U.S. President Donald Trump this year reversed a decision by President Barack Obama’s administration not to provide lethal aid to Ukraine. The U.S. has since sent more than 200 Javelin anti-tank rockets.

Envoy Kurt Volker told reporters in Kiev that Ukraine has improved its defense capabilities in recent years, but “there are still some gaps in those capabilities. And wherever those gaps are, we are prepared to sit down and talk with Ukraine about what their needs are. They can buy things through our foreign military sales.”

Volker said the United States is concerned about the expansion of Russian naval operations in the Sea of Azov, which borders Ukraine, Russia and the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

“We do not accept Russian claims about territory in the waters. We believe the presence of Russian military forces has become a provocative, aggressive step, so we are very concerned about that,” he said.

The separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine have long threatened the Azov port of Mariupol; taking the city would be a key step toward their establishing a land corridor between Crimea and Russia.

AP/SERGEI GRITS Russian forces take part in maneuvers Saturday at a port in the Russian Far East, part of the country’s largest war games.