The Times: Yushchenko asks for MAP

The President of Ukraine urged Nato yesterday to resist Russian pressure and make an historic offer of membership to his country.

Viktor Yushchenko said in an interview to the Times that Ukraine was "devoted" to winning support for a Membership Action Plan (MAP) at next month's summit of Nato foreign ministers despite opposition in Moscow and a bitter political crisis at home that has split the pro-Western Orange coalition.

He gave warning that expansion of the military alliance was vital to European security in the wake of Russia's war with Georgia, and the only way to secure Ukraine's independence.