Ukraine leaders in U.S. speak of threat and opportunity

Oren Dorell | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Ukraine's prime minister said Wednesday that his country needs military and financial help against Russia, which he described as "an armed-to-the-teeth nuclear power."

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Russian President Vladimir Putin has thousands of troops in eastern Ukraine and is supporting a separatist movement because he "wants Ukraine to be a failed state."

"We can't do it by ourselves," Yatsenyuk said about fighting Russia and the separatists.

Russia continues to deny it has troops in Ukraine or is backing the pro-Russian separatists there.

Yatsenyuk, who hopes to persuade the United States to provide defensive lethal weapons, met Wednesday in Washington with Vice President Biden and later with International Monetary Fund chief Christine LaGarde, seeking loans for Ukraine's cash-strapped economy.

Traveling with Yatsenyuk is Ukraine's finance minister, Natalie Jaresko, a U.S.-born former investment banker who also met with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on Tuesday. She said Ukraine needs billions of dollars in financial aid and agreements on debt restructuring from its international partners.

"The best thing the United States can do for our country is to increase trade," she said.

She promised that her country would be a good bet.

Jaresko said Ukraine has broken up monopolies in the energy industry, improved transparency in government and enacted painful austerity measures in the 16 months since demonstrators ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.

"We are now the best export opportunity to the European Union in the world," because of Ukraine's proximity to Europe and recent depreciation of its currency, Jaresko said. "For investors looking for strategic entry in this market, now is a very good time."