Russia's foreign minister warned Thursday that Ukraine's NATO ambitions are threatening to derail peace talks in eastern Ukraine. Undeterred, Ukraine's president began a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama and other top NATO leaders in Wales, reports GHN based on Fox News.
Russia and Ukraine said Wednesday they are working on a deal to halt months of fighting in eastern Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin spelled out a seven-point plan for ending hostilities and expressed hope for a breakthrough at talks in Minsk, Belarus, on Friday.
But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in televised remarks Thursday that statements by senior government officials in Kiev that Ukraine will be seeking to join NATO are "a blatant attempt to derail all the efforts" to seek a peaceful solution in Ukraine.
NATO leaders are meeting this week for a summit at a golf resort in southern Wales. Before official proceedings began, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko attended a meeting with Obama and leaders of four major European powers in the alliance: British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
Poroshenko was to meet later in the day with heads of state and government from all 28 NATO member states. NATO officials have made clear that membership for Ukraine isn't in the cards anytime soon, but the alliance is expected to express solid support for Poroshenko's government and announce an increase in nonlethal aid for Ukraine's military.
On Thursday morning, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen accused the Russians of continued meddling in Ukraine despite Putin's proclamation of a peace plan.