U krainian premier has warned Putin's peace blueprint is a 'cynical bid to fool the West'

'An attack on one, is an attack on all,' he said

President Barack Obama warned Russian president Vladimir Putin today that ‘borders can’t be redrawn at the barrel of a gun’ in a strident speech in Estonia.

The president said Putin’s 'brazen assault on the territorial integrity of Ukraine' had threatened peace in Europe and assured Baltic leaders assembled in Tallin that the U.S. and NATO would defend them militarily if their sovereignty is threatened.

He said history had shown that the ‘big cannot bully the small’ and ‘an attack on one, is an attack on all’. It comes as the Ukrainian premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk has warned Putin's peace blueprint is a 'cynical bid' to fool the West.



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President Barack Obama told Baltic leaders in Tallinn today that the U.S. would defend them if another nation threatened their sovereignty Cars drive past Ukrainian self-propelled artillery guns near Slaviansk. It comes as Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday he hoped a peace process for the troubled eastern region of his country to begin on Friday Ukrainian servicemen ride on armoured vehicles near Slaviansk The president's speech dovetailed news that a 'permanent ceasefire' in the Ukraine conflict had unraveled just hours after it had been announced President Petro Poroshenko said he hoped a peace process would begin on Friday in the Belarussian capital Minsk and urged politicians to support the talks While Poroshenko claimed he and Putin had agreed 'a permanent ceasefire', Obama said in Estonia that it was 'too early to early to tell' if it was a viable truce

Obama added that a country’s independence 'can't simply be taken away by brute force’ and said the U.S. 'will not accept Russia’s occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea or any part of Ukraine.'

'We must continue to stand united against Russia's aggression in Ukraine,' Obama said.

Obama reminded his audience that Russia's President has 'repeatedly' declined to resolve the situation in Ukraine diplomatically and that the U.S. and its allies had put crippling sanctions on the country.



'Make no mistake, Russia is paying a price,' he said.



'Russia’s actions in Ukraine are weakening Russia. Russia’s actions are hurting the Russian people. And it doesn’t have to be this way. '



It comes as France has halted delivery of the first of two Mistral assault navy ships to Russia.



President Francois Hollande's office said conditions are 'not right' - and blamed Moscow's recent actions in Ukraine.

The U.S. president said that as 'a result of state-run propaganda,' many Russian citizens have been convinced that their government's actions are strengthening the country.



'But reaching back to the days of the czars, trying to reclaim lands lost in the 19th century is surely not the way to secure Russia’s greatness in the 21st century,' Obama noted.



'It only shows that unrestrained nationalism is the last refuge of those who cannot or will not deliver real progress and opportunity for their own people at home.'

Obama said 'the best antidotes' to propaganda campaigns 'are the values that define us. '

Soldiers of the so-called 'Kiev-1' police forces battalion check parts of Russian-made 9M113 'Konkurs' portable wire-guided anti-tank missile launchers discovered in the basement of a building in Slaviansk, Ukraine

A soldier of the so-called 'Kiev-1' police forces battalion carries parts of a Russian-made 9M113 'Konkurs' portable wire-guided anti-tank missile launcher discovered in the basement of a building in Slaviansk, Ukraine

The Kremlin has said Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured today in Mongolia) and Ukrainian leader Petro Poroshenko had agreed on steps towards peace in eastern Ukraine

'Our democracies cannot truly succeed until we root out bias and prejudice, both from our institutions and from our hearts,' he said.

'We have to uphold a free press and freedom of speech because in the end lies and misinformation are no match for the truth.'



The president's speech dovetailed news that a 'permanent ceasefire' in the Ukraine conflict had unraveled just hours after it had been announced.

The truce was announced by Kiev president Petro Poroshenko after an early morning phone call with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

Mounting a show of solidarity with NATO allies, Obama, speaking from Estonia, also announced plans to send more Air Force units and aircraft to the Baltics

The announcement from Mr Poroshenko followed a Kremlin claim that the two leaders had largely agreed on steps to end the conflict causing devastation in eastern Ukraine, with more than one million people fleeing their homes.

However, Moscow rapidly said Mr Putin had not agreed to a ceasefire and could not do so, claiming he was not even party to the conflict.

Ukrainian premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned Putin's peace blueprint is a cynical bid to fool the West.



'This latest plan is another attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community ahead of the NATO summit,' he said.



It was 'an attempt to avert the EU's inevitable decision to unleash a new wave of sanctions against Russia.'

His real plan 'is to destroy Ukraine and to restore the Soviet Union', claimed the strongly pro-Western premier.



'The best plan for ending Russia's war against Ukraine has only one single element -- for Moscow to withdraw its troops, its mercenaries and its terrorists from Ukrainian territory.'

Yatsenyuk spoke out despite his boss President Petro Poroshenko claiming he and Putin had agreed a peace plan on ending the bloody five-month conflict.



The Russian leader's spokesman stressed: 'Putin and Poroshenko really did discuss the steps that would lead to a ceasefire between militias and Ukrainian security forces.

'Russia cannot physically agree on a ceasefire, because it is not a party to the conflict.'

Meanwhile, reports made clear fighting continued on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

'At the moment that journalists told me of a ceasefire, we came under fire twice,' said Serhiy Melnichuk, commander of the pro-Kiev Aidar volunteer militia battalion.

'An attack on one is an attack on all,' Obama told Baltic leaders today while promising that the U.S. and NATO would defend them militarily if their sovereignty is compromised

'We have received no orders yet. Russia needs to remove its forces from our territory.

'We have to stop this slaughter, we are destroying the nation.'

Mr Poroshenko soon weakened his bold claim of agreement on a 'permanent ceasefire' to a 'ceasefire regime.'



A statement on the ceasefire posted on the presidential website was changed to say that Poroshenko's conversation with Putin 'resulted in agreement on a process for ceasing fire in the Donbass region.'

At the same time his prime minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said Ukraine wanted to put a wall on its border with 'terrorist state' Russia, and intended to draw up a new military doctrine naming its neighbor as an 'aggressor nation'.

Pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk dismissed the claims of a ceasefire as 'some sort of a game by Kiev', which came ahead of the NATO summit in Wales opening tomorrow.

U.S. President Barack Obama reviews the honour guard as he is welcomed by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves at Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, Estonia

Deputy premier of the Donetsk People's Republic Andrei Purgin said the separatists fighting with Ukraine had not been involved in the decision.



U.S. president Barack Obama - speaking at a joint press conference at a joint news conference with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in ex-Soviet republic this morning - warned that it was too early to hope a truce could hold.

'We haven't seen a lot of follow-up on so-called announced ceasefires,' said Obama.

'Having said that, if in fact Russia is prepared to stop financing, arming, training, in many cases joining with Russian troops, activities in Ukraine and is serious about a political settlement, that is something we all hope for.'

In his speech to Baltic leaders later that day Obama noted that the Russian forces in Ukraine 'are not on a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission.'

'They are Russian combat forces with Russian weapons in Russian tanks.'

Estonian pupils wave US flags in front of the Presidential palace in Tallinn's Kadriorg district as they greet President Barack Obama

Vladimir Antyfeyev, a senior leader of the Russia-backed rebels whom Ukrainian forces have been fighting since April, told The Associated Press he could not say whether the separatists would adhere to a ceasefire because he was not commanding the forces. 'But I definitely welcome this,' he said.

The rebels ignored a 10-day unilateral cease-fire that Poroshenko had called in June.

The announcement came as President Obama today arrived in the former Soviet Union for talks on the conflict.

Mounting a show of solidarity with NATO allies, Mr Obama also announced plans to send more Air Force units and aircraft to the Baltics, as he sought to reassure nations on edge over Russia's involvement in Ukraine.

Mr Obama's one-day visit to Estonia was designed to emphasize the U.S. commitment to defending its allies and ramp up consequences for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mr Obama, ticking through a list of U.S. military resources already at work in the region, said the U.S. has a duty under the NATO charter to the alliance's collective defense.

'It is unbreakable, it is unwavering, it is eternal. And Estonia will never stand alone,' Obama said at the press conference.



Standing shoulder to shoulder with Estonia's president, Mr Obama called Estonia's Amari Air Base an ideal location to base those additional forces, which come as NATO nations prepare to bolster a rapid-response force for the region.

Mr Obama held up Estonia as an example of how every member of the military alliance needs to do its fair share for the collective defense of all 28 members. The US and Estonia are two of four NATO countries that fulfill their pledges to contribute two percent of their GDP to defense spending.

Russia announced major war games involving its nuclear forces as Mr Obama arrived in Estonia.

The major exercises are the latest military drills called by Mr Putin amid the highest east-west tension since the end of the Cold War.

The exercise to be held this month will involve more than 4,000 troops in Altai and south-central Russia.

Dmitry Andreyev, a major in the strategic rocket forces, said forces would practice countering irregular units and high-precision weapons, and 'conducting combat missions in conditions of active radio-electronic jamming and intensive enemy actions in areas of troop deployment.'

The US leader is greeted by Urmas Paet, Estonia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, left, and Toomas Kahur, Estonia's Chief of Protocol, centre, as he arrives in Tallinn

Security forces check the perimeter as President Barack Obama and President Toomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia meet at the Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, Estonia

President Barack Obama and Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas speak to U.S. and Estonian service members

Supersonic MiG-31 fighter-interceptors and Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft would take part and the scale of air power involved was unprecedented for exercises of this kind.

The announcement came as Putin said he largely agreed with Kiev leader Petro Poroshenko on ending the bloodshed in Ukraine, following a recent conversation. However no substantive details were given.

'The heads of state exchanged opinions about what needs to be done first in order to bring an end to the bloodletting in the southeast of the country as soon as possible,' said Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

'The views of the presidents of the two countries about possible ways out of this difficult crisis overlap to a considerable degree.'

On Tuesday the U.S. announced that it would proceed with an joint training exercise this month at the Y avoriv training center in Ukraine near it's border with Poland.

The U.S. will send 200 troops to participate in the annual exercise, rescheduled from July, and the countries of Azerbaijan, Britain, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain and the Ukraine will provide the 1,100 soldiers.

The joint training will be focused on peacekeeping, according to Reuters, and will include exercises on activities like patrolling.



Over the weekend, the European Union leaders agreed to prepare a new round of sanctions that could be enacted in a week, after NATO accused Russia of sending tanks and troops into southeastern Ukraine.

Obama launched a biting criticism of Vladimir Putin today in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, once part of the USSR, before he flew to Wales for the NATO summit opening tomorrow

During the Nato summit in Wales, the alliance will also agree on a more robust rapid response force that will involve positioning more troops and equipment in the Baltics and elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

It is unclear whether the plan will satisfy the concerns of the Baltic nations, who have been pressing Nato for permanent bases in the region.

Last night it was reported that Britain is to order 600 Army infantry vehicles as part of its commitment to raise defence spending.

Defence minister Julian Brazier said a platoon may also be sent in a fortnight to join Rapid Trident, the joint US–Ukraine exercise.

Ukrainian soldiers injured in fighting arrive at Tegel Airport, Berlin, for treatment in one of four hospitals

Over the weekend, the European Union leaders agreed to prepare a new round of sanctions that could be enacted in a week, after NATO accused Russia of sending tanks and troops into southeastern Ukraine

In a speech today, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will warn that NATOs 'credibility' depends on European leaders boosting military spending.

European Union nations are also looking at sporting sanctions to punish Russia for its involvement in the Ukraine crisis but diplomats say the immediate targeting of high-profile events like the 2018 World Cup is unlikely at this stage, the Associated Press has reported.

An EU official with knowledge of the proposals said today that sports sanctions are under consideration as the EU seeks to get new measures ready by the weekend.

Diplomats from three member states said it was unrealistic to think the 28-nation group would try to impose such measures now, and said ambassadors would more likely seek a deepening of current sanctions.

Even before the Ukraine crisis, relations between the Baltic countries and Russia were chilly. Moscow routinely accuses them of discriminating against their Russian-speaking minorities.

About a third of Estonia's 1.3 million residents have Russian as their mother tongue. Many of them feel detached from Estonian society and get their news from Kremlin-controlled Russian TV stations.

The Baltics were invaded by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during World War II. After the Soviet Union crumbled, the Baltic countries turned to the West and joined the European Union and Nato in 2004, much to the chagrin of Russia.