Another update from our news desk:
President Petro Poroshenko said today (December 17) that he will soon ask parliament to abandon Ukraine's neutral "non-bloc" status, and suggested he would steer the country closer to NATO.
Speaking in the Polish parliament, Poroshenko said through a translator, "Today in this chamber, I have made the decision that my country will return to the course towards integration with the sphere of Euro-Atlantic security."
He did not mention NATO by name.
But he said that, upon returning to Kyiv, he would "file a motion to the Ukrainian parliament to reject the nonaligned status of my country."
A law passed in 2010, under then-President Viktor Yanukovych, precludes a NATO membership bid.
Russia staunchly opposes NATO membership for Ukraine.
Poroshenko also said his goal was for Ukraine to submit an application to join the European Union in 2020.
(Reuters, Interfax)