NATO leaders accuse Russia, aid Ukraine

NATO leaders on Sept. 5 accused Russia of failing to take "a single step towards peace" in Ukraine even as President Petro Poroshenko voiced "careful optimism" about forging a ceasefire with pro-Moscow rebels.

The leaders gathered at a summit of the Western military alliance in Newport, Wales agreed to set up new funds to help Ukraine's military effort and treat wounded soldiers in a five-month conflict in which more than 2,600 people have been killed.

European and U.S. officials at the talks also said they were ready to approve fresh economic sanctions on Russia on Sept. 6, although implementation could be delayed pending ceasefire talks scheduled for the same day.

NATO leaders on Sept. 5 are also expected to approve plans to position troops and military equipment in Eastern Europe to reassure ex-Soviet bloc member states unnerved by Russia's actions.

"While talking about peace, Russia has not made one single step to make peace as possible," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after Ukraine-focussed talks at the leaders' summit.

"Instead of de-escalating the crisis, Russia has only deepened it," he said, adding that previous Russian statements on peace had been "a smokescreen for continued Russian destabilisation of the situation."

But Rasmussen left open the door to a seven-point peace plan put forward on Sept. 4 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying: "If we are witnessing genuine efforts for a political solution, I would welcome it."

Poroshenko said he was hopeful about the plan because the initiative had come from pro-Moscow rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine. But he added that political negotiations would be a "tough challenge," warning that Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity were...