04 September 2014

Nato summit: Alliance 'stands with Ukraine'

                 
Nato also called on Russia "to pull back its troops" from Ukraine and end the "illegal" annexation of Crimea.

 UK government officials say fresh EU and US sanctions will be announced against Russia on Friday. Separately, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and rebel leaders said a ceasefire could be agreed on Friday. Some 2,600 people have died in fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels.

 Ukraine's military says 837 its soldiers have died since the conflict erupted in April. In a statement delivered by Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the alliance also called on Russia "to step back from confrontation and take the path to peace".

 Nato's partnership with Ukraine was "strong" and the alliance was "determined to make it even stronger", including developing the ability of Ukrainian and Nato forces to work together.


 Russia denies arming pro-Russia rebels in eastern Ukraine or that it has deployed troops in the country.

 The fresh sanctions to be announced by the United States and the European Union on Friday are expected to include further restrictions on the banking, energy and defence sectors. More associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin will have travel bans imposed on them, and more banks owned by the Russian state will be banned from accessing the financial markets,

UK government officials told the BBC. At the Nato summit, French President Francois Hollande said an EU decision on imposing further sanctions on Russia would depend on what progress was made towards peace in Ukraine in the coming hours.

 He had earlier signalled a toughening of European policy towards Russia on Wednesday by suspending a military deal worth 1.2bn euros ($1.6bn; £0.95bn). Ukrainian government forces have recently suffered several losses of territory, after rebels launched offensives in both the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and further south around the city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea. Reports are emerging that the separatists have begun shelling the outer defences of Mariupol.

At least two military vehicles were seen on fire in the area, and eyewitnesses spoke of gunfire. Meanwhile, President Poroshenko said the implementation of a peace plan - which includes a bilateral ceasefire - could start on Friday, a hope expressed earlier by Mr Putin.

 The Ukrainian leader said this depended on planned talks in Minsk between representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the pro-Russian rebels and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Rebel leaders were later quoted as saying they would order a ceasefire at 11:00 GMT on Friday if the peace plan was agreed.

 On Wednesday, Mr Putin announced a seven-point plan, including a halt to "active offensive operations" by the Ukrainian military and pro-Russia rebels, international ceasefire monitoring, unconditional prisoner exchanges and humanitarian aid corridors. 'Unacceptable' actions During the two-days of talks in Wales, Nato leaders are also set to discuss the rise of Islamic State (IS), and Afghanistan where Taliban militants launched a deadly attack on a government compound on Thursday. Writing in the Times newspaper,

UK Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama said they would "confront" IS, warning their countries would "not be cowed by barbaric killers". Their statement follows the release of a new IS video showing the killing of US journalist Steven Sotloff, just days after the group beheaded another American reporter, James Foley. Culled from BBC.

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