Ukraine celebrates 30th independence anniversary
Ukraine celebrates the 30th anniversary of its independence with a military parade, a day after Kiev and its Western allies agreed to work towards "peacefully" ending Russia's "occupation" of Crimea.
Ukrainian soldiers marched through Kiev Tuesday alongside servicemen of NATO member countries as the country marked the 30th anniversary of its independence from the Soviet Union.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, despite wanting to join.
The show of solidarity came after Ukraine and its Western allies agreed, in a summit that sparked anger in Moscow, that they would work towards ending Russia's "occupation" of Crimea.
The support for Ukraine, which has little chance of changing Russia's position,follows complaints from Kiev in recent months about its allies being reluctant to allow it to join NATO, refusing to deliver arms and maintaining gas agreements with Moscow to the detriment of Ukraine.
The also summit comes seven years after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula and as a pro-Russian insurgency broke out in eastern Ukraine that has claimed more than 13,000 lives.
The meeting brought together representatives of more than 40 countries, including the heads of more than 10 European states. They adopted a joint resolution on "peacefully ending the Russian Federation's temporary occupation" of Crimea. They condemned Crimea's annexation and human rights violations on the peninsula as well as its "militarization" by Moscow and also stressed the need to "return to Ukraine" the peninsula, though there were no concrete measures spelled out.
