WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Washington has decided to sell advanced weapons to Ukraine to help update its defense capabilities, U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Friday.

Nauert said in a statement that Washington will provide Kiev with "enhanced defensive capabilities" as part of its efforts to help Ukraine build its long-term defense capacity "to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to deter further aggression."

"U.S. assistance is entirely defensive in nature" and Ukraine "has a right to defend itself," said Nauert.

She added that the United States remains committed to the Minsk agreements as the way forward in eastern Ukraine.

Western nations including the United States and European Union member states have imposed sanctions on Russia citing Moscow's intervention in Crimea in March 2014.

Moscow has continuously expressed its "deep regret" over the sanctions, warning it reserves the right to retaliate.

The Minsk agreements, reached in September 2014 and February 2015 respectively, envisage a ceasefire, a withdrawal of heavy weaponry from the contact line, a prisoner exchange and local elections in Donbas, among other measures.