Ukraine and NATO on Wednesday signed an agreement for the destruction of surplus and dangerous munitions and small arms and light weapons in the former Soviet Union country.

The document was signed by the visiting Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Tereshchenko and NATO Under-Secretary General Mario Bartolli, said a press release of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The agreement paves way for the destruction of 15,000 tons of munitions, 400,000 small arms and 1,000 man-portable air-defense missiles in Ukraine.

The United States is leading the first phase of the planned 12- year demilitarization project, which is expected to cost around 7. 9 million euros (about 9.5 million US dollars).

The destruction work will begin in Ukraine at the end of November.

This is the second NATO arms destruction project for Ukraine. The first project, completed in May 2003, destroyed more than 400, 000 anti-personnel landmines.

Source: Xinhua