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 Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said only membership of NATO would
enable Ukraine to defend itself from external aggression.
Kiev and its Western backers accuse Moscow of sending troops and
tanks into eastern Ukraine in support of pro-Russian separatists
battling Ukrainian forces in a conflict that has killed more than
3,000 people. Russia denies the accusations.
A ceasefire negotiated by envoys from Ukraine, Russia, the
separatists and Europe's OSCE security watchdog, has been in place
in eastern Ukraine since Sept. 5 and is broadly holding despite
regular but sporadic violations, especially in key flashpoints such
as Donetsk, where a Reuters reporter heard loud explosions early on
Saturday afternoon.
But Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, speaking at a
conference in Kiev attended by Ukrainian and European lawmakers and
business leaders on Saturday, made clear he did not view the
ceasefire as the start of a sustainable peace process because of
Putin's ambitions.
"We are still in a stage of war and the key aggressor is the Russian
Federation ... Putin wants another frozen conflict (in eastern
Ukraine)," said Yatseniuk, a longtime fierce critic of Moscow and a
supporter of Ukraine's eventual NATO membership.
Yatseniuk said Putin would not be content only with Crimea - annexed
by Moscow in March - and with Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking
eastern region.
"His goal is to take all of Ukraine ... Russia is a threat to the
global order and to the security of the whole of Europe."
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told a daily briefing
that one soldier and 12 rebels had been killed in the past 24 hours,
without specifying where they had died. That would bring the death
toll among Ukrainian forces since the start of the ceasefire eight
days ago to six.
The rebels have not said how many of their men have died in the same
period.
Government forces still hold Donetsk airport, while the city is in
separatist hands.
Putin says Russia has the right to defend its ethnic kin beyond its
borders, though Moscow denies arming the rebels and helped broker
the current ceasefire with Kiev.
Asked about future NATO membership, a red line for Russia, Yatseniuk
said he realized the alliance was not ready now to admit Kiev, but
added: "NATO in these particular circumstances is the only vehicle
to protect Ukraine."
There is no prospect of the Atlantic alliance admitting Ukraine, a
sprawling country of 45 million people between central Europe and
Russia, but Kiev has stepped up cooperation with NATO in a range of
areas and has pressed member states to sell it weapons to help
defeat the separatists.
HUMANITARIAN AID
On Saturday, the first trucks in a new convoy of around 200 Russian
vehicles entered Ukraine's largely rebel-held Lugansk province to
deliver humanitarian aid to residents.
It is the second such Russian humanitarian aid convoy and it passed
the border without any major difficulty. The first convoy in August
was denounced by Ukraine and its Western allies for crossing the
border without Kiev's permission.
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The Ukraine conflict has triggered several waves of Western
sanctions against Russia, most recently on Friday. The new measures,
branded by Putin "a bit strange" in view of the ceasefire, target
banks and oil companies.
Russia, which has already introduced bans on a range of U.S. and
European food imports, signaled it would respond with further
sanctions of its own against Western interests.
Yatseniuk said on Saturday the latest sanctions posed a big threat
to the Russian economy.
"It is bluff (by Russia) to say it does not care about the
sanctions," he said, noting that Russia relied heavily on its energy
sector and some of the sanctions targeted its oil firms.
Yatseniuk defended his government's efforts, despite the conflict,
to tackle rampant corruption and overhaul the creaking economy,
adding: "It is very hard to attract investors when you have Russian
tanks and artillery in your country."
His center-right People's Front party is expected to do well in a
parliamentary election on Oct. 26.
The conflict is taking a heavy toll on Ukraine's already battered
economy, which is now being supported by a 17 billion dollar loan
package from the International Monetary Fund.
The economy could shrink by as much as 10 percent this year, the
head of Ukraine's central bank, Valeria Hontareva, was quoted by
Interfax news agency as saying on Saturday, much more than the 6.5
percent decrease previously forecast by the IMF.
Yatseniuk praised a decision on Friday to delay the implementation
of a new trade pact with the European Union until the end of 2015.
He said it prolonged unilateral trade benefits now enjoyed by
Ukrainian firms in the EU while maintaining modest customs duties on
European products entering Ukraine.
Some have seen the decision to postpone the implementation of the
deal as a diplomatic victory for Russia, which is opposed to closer
economic ties between Kiev and the EU, but Yatseniuk said it would
be good for Ukraine's own economy.
"We got a grace period. The EU opened its markets but Ukraine is
still protected, so for Ukraine this is not a bad deal," he said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danylo Lubkivsky submitted his resignation,
saying: "(The delay) sends the wrong signal - to the aggressor, to
our allies and, above all, to Ukrainian citizens."
(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; Writing by Gareth
Jones; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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