The North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO has asks Ukraine to increase peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, Liberia the Defense Minister of Ukraine has said.

"We have been asked to consider the possibility of increasing the number of our peacekeeping forces, including in Afghanistan and Africa, as well as in other hot spots," the minister said at a briefing at the Desna military training center in Chernihiv region on Saturday.

Analyzing the results of his visit to Brussels for a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, Lebedev noted that relevant proposals were passed to the president of Ukraine, who would consider them and make a decision.

All this is happening at the time UNMIL is slowly pulling out of Liberia with President Sirleaf disclosing that UNMIL troops will soon be reduced to 7,000.

"We've now reached the stage where our security sector reform, which in involved building a new army, beginning to get our Police and the other apparatus in place. We now have a transition program with UNMIL - we still have a peacekeeping force," President Sirleaf told the Board of Executive Directors At the First Replenishment Meeting for ADF-133 in Tunis recently.

The President added: "They have been reduced to 9,000 and will be going down to 7,000 in two years, and we think a full exit in two years, assuming we can do the training for our forces to take over the protection of the state."