Ukraine foreign minister says arms talks with U.S. ongoing

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin speaks during an annual news conference in Kiev, Ukraine January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said on Friday that arms negotiations were ongoing with the United States.

Asked about the prospect of the U.S. selling lethal weapons to Ukraine, Klimkin said: "We are now conducting such negotiations. I cannot talk about individual systems. This is a confidential issue."

"We are talking about a very serious strengthening of the defence capabilities of both our armed forces and our defence sector as a whole," he told reporters at a press conference.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; editing by Matthias Williams and Raissa Kasolowsky)