US to repeat support for Ukraine

Joseph Biden has said the US will not sideline its allies

US Vice-President Joseph Biden has set out on a visit to Ukraine and Georgia, aiming to give a show of support to its pro-Western allies.

Mr Biden is trying to assure Eastern European countries that Washington's effort to improve its relations with Russia will not come at their expense.

Nato has promised eventual membership to Ukraine and Georgia, but has not given either a potential entry date.

Eastern European leaders have urged the US not to abandon them.

Mr Biden arrived in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, on Monday.

He will meet President Viktor Yushchenko and his bitter rival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, as well as the country's main opposition leaders, before travelling on to Georgia.

Last week, several former key figures in the fight against Soviet control of Eastern and Central Europe, including former Polish President Lech Walesa, and the Czech Republic's former president, Vaclav Havel, signed a letter urging US President Barack Obama not to sacrifice Russia's neighbours for better relations with Moscow.

Mr Obama has repeated his intention to "reset" those relations, and visited Russia, signing deals on nuclear disarmament.

But he also repeated that the US supported Georgia over its war with Russia last August, and would not accept the independence of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as Russia had.