Petro Poroshenko, the Ukrainian president, said he planned to hold a referendum on joining Nato, claiming polls reveal the majority of the population would today vote to join the military alliance.

In an interview with German daily newspaper Berliner Morgenpost, Mr Poroshenko vowed to "do all I can to achieve membership in the transatlantic alliance" if the Ukrainian people voted in favour.

"Four years ago, only 16 percent (of the Ukrainian people) favoured Ukraine's entry into Nato. Now it's 54 percent," he said. "As president, I am guided by the views of my people, and I will hold a referendum on the issue of Nato membership."

Mr Poroshenko had vowed to put Ukraine under Western military protection after winning an election called in the wake of the February 2014 ousting in Kiev of Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych.

Ukraine's pro-Western leaders then renewed the push for membership after Russia annexed its Crimean peninsula and supported pro-Russian insurgents in a two-year separatist conflict in the east of the country that has seen 10,000 people killed so far. Russia vehemently opposes the bid as a threat to its security.