Wales

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said a ceasefire plan aimed at ending a near five-month conflict in the east of the country would be signed on Friday.
      
"Tomorrow in Minsk a document will be signed providing for the gradual introduction of the Ukrainian peace plan," he said on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Wales on Thursday.
      

Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine's east have said they are ready to lay down arms if Kiev officials sign a plan outlining the steps to peace.

DM in Newport: Invitation confirms partnership

NEWPORT -- Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gašić has said that the ministry he heads is taking an active part in the Partnership for Peace program.

Russia will be facing increased pressure if it does not backtrack on its actions in the east of Ukraine, NATO has warned in the eve of Thursday's Wales summit.

As the meeting of NATO members' Presidents kicks off, the Ukraine crisis is expected to top the agenda, alongside the Sunni militant group Islamic State (IS) ad troops' withdrawal from Afghansitan.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is expected to meet newly elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday morning in Cardiff, Wales. The meeting is being organized on the sidelines of a two-day NATO summit which ends on the same day.

France suspended Sept. 3 the delivery of the first of two Mistral-class warships to Russia "until November" after fierce criticism from its allies given the crisis in Ukraine.
      

Obama and Cameron: Together against Russians

NEWPORT -- U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have pledged to jointly support Ukraine against Russia, according to a statement.

NATO will bolster its eastern defences and buttress support for Kiev at a summit starting on Sept. 4 prompted by the Ukraine crisis to enact the most radical shift in its strategy towards Russia since the end of the Cold War.

Romania's President Traian Basescu said Wednesday that the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine have reached 'limits verging on the irrational,' and that is why Romania will be asking the incoming NATO summit to consolidate NATO's entire eastern flank.

Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev will attend the NATO summit, which will take place in Wales, September 4-5, said the President's press office.