US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said that the US is helping build defense capabilities in Ukraine and Georgia and will continue to do so.
"The assistant and deputy defense secretaries were in Kiev these days to offer advice on military reforms and institution building," Hagel told reporters after the two-day ministerial meeting at NATO headquarters.
Hagel did not mention direct military aid, but indicated that US support consists of financial aid, training programs for Ukrainian and Georgian soldiers and joint military exercises.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said earlier today that Georgia has come a long way on the way to membership in the Alliance, but he did not specify a specific deadline for Georgia's membership.
At today's press conference, the US Secretary of Defense was exposed to numerous questions regarding the case of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was released home yesterday after being held in a camp by the Taliban for five years.
President Barack Obama has been heavily criticized by the right for agreeing to exchange Bergdahl for five Taliban leaders, and now claims have emerged that the sergeant is not the hero Obama made him out to be, but has deserted and may even have tried to join the Taliban voluntarily. .
"He is still our soldier, and the investigation will shed light on all the circumstances of his disappearance," Hagel said, stressing that media reports about Bergdahl's betrayal were "irresponsible."
A joint response to the Ukrainian crisis is needed
Today's summit of the seven most developed countries in the world in Brussels will be held in the context of discussions about Russia and Ukraine, the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission, Herman van Rompy and Jose Manuel Barroso, said.
At a joint press conference, ahead of tonight's G7 summit, Van Rompuy and Barroso pointed out the need for a joint response to the challenges created by the Ukrainian crisis.
"Russia should start cooperating with the government in Kiev, withdraw troops from the border and stop the movement of armed groups from Russia to Ukraine," Van Rompuy said.
Barroso added that EU policy is based on helping Ukraine to stabilize politically and economically, while at the same time maintaining pressure on Russia.
"The European Commission is preparing new targeted measures against Russia and is ready to apply them if the Ukrainian crisis escalates," he said.
Rompi and Barroso pointed out that it is politically significant that the G7, which consists of the heads of state and government of the United States, Germany, Japan, France, Great Britain, Canada and Italy, is meeting in Brussels for the first time at the headquarters of the EU, and not in Sochi with Russia as the eighth member, as was planned before the crisis.
"In March, we decided not to go to Sochi and to suspend Russia's membership, which is a clear message to Moscow that it must pay a political price for its behavior," Barroso said, reports Tanjug.
Van Rompy added that Russia is not excluded, but only suspended, and that it can be re-admitted to the group if it starts to cooperate in solving the Ukrainian crisis.
In addition to Russia and Ukraine, the G7 leaders will hold talks tonight and tomorrow about the economy and global warming, and one of the important topics will be reducing energy dependence on Russian gas.
In this regard, Barroso emphasized that energy must not be used as a weapon.
"I call on Russia to lay down its arms," he said and advocated for the continuation of trilateral negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the EU on the problem of the accumulated Ukrainian debt.
The summit will begin with an informal working evening, and a joint press conference of American President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron has been announced for tomorrow.
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