Why is NATO not helping Ukraine?

Nato has been accused of abandoning Ukraine, after the country’s president said it was too weak to help in the face of Russian aggression. Petro Poroshenko said the alliance had “no strategy” for supporting Ukraine and that its soldiers could not help because they were “not ready”.

But Nato has insisted it has provided “strong support” to Kiev, including training and reform assistance.

Mr Poroshenko was speaking after meeting Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a security conference in Munich.

What is happening in Ukraine?

“I have no doubt that Russia is a threat,” Mr Poroshenko told reporters at the conference. “Russia occupied Crimea, Russia occupied parts of eastern Ukraine.”

The war between Russia and Ukraine is the result of a disagreement over Crimea.

After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukraine has been in a state of war with its neighbor. The dispute began in February 2014 when pro-Russian forces staged a coup d’état against the Ukrainian government. The new government was formed by the Russian-backed Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted from power during the Euromaidan protests earlier that year. While Yanukovych was still president, he had agreed to an association agreement with the European Union that would have brought Ukraine closer to Europe and away from Russia. But after his ousting, Yanukovych fled to Russia and signed an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to join a trade union between Ukraine and Russia instead.

In response to this decision, pro-European Ukrainians began protesting for closer ties with Europe again. This time around, however, they were met with violence from riot police who were loyal to Yanukovych’s old government. The violence eventually escalated into civil war as pro-Russian rebels fought against Ukrainian forces in Eastern Ukraine. After several months of fighting and thousands of casualties on both sides, Russia intervened on behalf of the rebels and seized control over Crimea. Today, fighting continues along part of the border between Ukraine and Russia.