Turkey said Monday it would allow Germany's defence minister to visit an air base in the south of the country after sparking a row by barring a German delegation from making the trip.

Ursula von der Leyen had said Sunday she would personally visit the Incirlik base, used to launch coalition raids against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria, after Turkey blocked other German politicians from going there.

Ankara had said the scheduled July visit by Germany's state secretary for defence Ralf Brauksiepe and other lawmakers would have been "inappropriate", sparking anger from von der Leyen.

German media reported the ban was in retaliation for the German parliament's recognition of the Ottoman forces' killing of Armenians during World War II as a genocide, but Turkish officials did not confirm this publicly.

"I have never experienced anything like this. It goes without saying that the leadership of the defence ministry should be able to visit German soldiers in the field," von der Leyen told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said at a news conference in Ankara on Monday that her own visit could go ahead.

"Turkey will grant permission," he said.

"The German defence minister can visit Incirlik with ease. There is no problem."

Germany in December agreed to send Tornado surveillance jets and tanker aircraft to Incirlik to aid the multinational coalition fighting IS in Syria.

But Berlin angered NATO ally Turkey when its parliament passed a resolution this month calling the Armenian killings a "genocide".

Ukraine launches joint military drills with NATO
Kiev (AFP) June 27, 2016 - Ukraine on Monday launched joint military exercises with the United States and a string of other NATO countries as tensions with Moscow remain high over the pro-Kremlin insurgency in the country's east.

The annual Rapid Trident military exercises, taking place in the western Ukrainian city of Yavoriv until July 8, involve some 1,800 soldiers from 14 countries and focus on "peacekeeping and stability operations," the US military said in a statement.

A spokesman for the regional branch of the Ukrainian defence ministry, Oleksandr Poronyuk, told AFP that some 200 pieces of military equipment, including two helicopters, will be used during the drills.

Some 300 US troops have been training Ukrainian soldiers since April 2015 to support them in their fight against pro-Russian rebels in the country's war-torn east.

On Monday, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said that one serviceman had been killed and four injured over the past 24 hours in fresh clashes with insurgents.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak said in April it could take years to end the conflict, which has claimed nearly 9,400 lives since it erupted in April 2014.

Kiev and the West have accused Russia of buttressing the rebels and sending in regular troops across the border, claims Moscow has repeatedly denied.