Ukraine becomes member of NATO's program of technological cooperation between armies

Amid the ongoing brutal war between Moscow and Kyiv in Eastern Europe, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov stated that his nation as an associate member has joined the Multilateral Interoperability Program (MIP), which organises the military-technological cooperation of NATO member nations. According to Ukrinform, citing the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, the relevant decision was adopted by vote at the MIP Steering Group's annual meeting. 

The press service for the Defence Ministry cited Reznikov as saying, “Ukraine has strong IT (Information Technology) potential and it is a worthy NATO ally. I am sure that we will bring our expertise to the development of collective security," Xinhua reported.  

According to the Ministry, Ukraine now has the authority to jointly establish and amend important NATO standards relating to the interaction of combat control systems and associated standards as the MIP associate member. 

In order to ensure interoperability of national C2IS systems, the MIP, a program of technological collaboration between the Armed Forces of NATO member nations was developed at the level of national combat control information system developers, Xinhua reported.  

All MIP papers will have the Ukrainian flag featured in their design templates

In addition to this, notably, a significant contribution has been made to the establishment of the Ukrainian Delta Situational Awareness System, which has been created by Ukrainian military IT professionals since 2016, owing to funding from the C4 Ukraine-NATO Trust Fund and the MIP programme. At the MIP Steering Group meeting, the officials of the Ministry of Defence's Center for Innovation and Development of Defence Technologies showcased Ukraine's potential using the example of Delta's functioning, Ukrinform reported. 

The decision to join had already been communicated to Ukraine through formal diplomatic channels. Moreover, all MIP papers will have the Ukrainian flag featured in their design templates. According to the Ministry of Defence, representatives of the NATO Headquarters Consultation, Command and Control (C3) Staff stated in their letter that the decision was a good illustration of Ukraine's cooperation with NATO and the allies, particularly within the context of the NATO-Ukraine C4 Knowledge Sharing Project. 

Ukraine crisis

Embattled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke at the NATO meeting after the western military alliance officially invited Sweden and Finland to join. The President urged NATO to accept Ukraine into the alliance. 

Meanwhile, thousands of people continued to flood the borders of neighbouring western nations as the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine deteriorated. Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Union (EU) Commission, announced an economic help package for nations taking in refugees from Ukraine. "So far more than 3 million people have left Ukraine. Half of them were children. I applaud the enormous generosity of all Europeans, all Member States, and Moldova. We propose to accelerate and inject EUR3.4 billion of liquidity to support EU countries hosting those fleeing the war," Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.

(Image: AP)