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Ukraine will begin discussions with NATO on an action plan to get it into the US-led alliance, its president has revealed. President Petro Poroshenko, whose country is fighting a Kremlin-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine, revived the prospect of NATO membership during a visit by NATO Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg who himself used the occasion to call on Moscow to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. Russia, deeply opposed to enlargement of NATO toward its borders, weighed in quickly, saying the prospect of NATO membership for Ukraine would not promote stability and security in Europe.

TASS/ REUTERS Russia has warned against Ukraine joining NATO

Russia said the prospect of NATO membership for Ukraine would not promote stability and security in Europe

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, reacting to Mr Stoltenberg's comment repeated Russia's assertion that it had never had troops in Ukraine. NATO leaders agreed at a summit in 2008 that Ukraine would one day become a member of the alliance. But there was little popular support for the issue at the time and it was never pursued by Ukraine's pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovich.

Support for NATO membership however has soared since Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014, following the fall of Yanukovich, and the outbreak of the war in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 10,000 people. Some 69 percent of Ukrainians want to join NATO, according to a June poll by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation, compared to 28 percent support in 2012 when Yanukovich was in power. Mr Stoltenberg called on Russia to withdraw thousands of troops from Ukraine - forces that Moscow has repeatedly denied sending - and raised concerns about the growing threats to the safety of international teams monitoring the conflict.

AFP GETTY NATO Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg called on Moscow to withdraw troops from Ukraine

REUTERS Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko Ukraine will begin discussions with NATO to join the alliance

President Poroshenko said: "Ukraine has clearly defined its political future and its future in the sphere of security. "Today we clearly stated that we would begin a discussion about a membership action plan and our proposals for such a discussion were accepted with pleasure."

EXPLOSIVE: American tanks FIRE towards Russia Fri, January 20, 2017 Heavily-armed US military personnel were rushed to Poland’s border with Russia to warn Vladimir Putin against another Ukrainian-style land grab. Play slideshow US Army/Cover Images 1 of 10 A round is fired from an M1A2 Main Battle Tank belonging to 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division during the first Live Fire Accuracy Screening Tests at Presidential Range in Swietozow, Poland