Cheney pledges continued US support for Ukraine
KIEV - As tensions with Moscow continued over Russia's invasion of Georgia last month, Vice President Dick Cheney renewed Washington's backing for Ukraine yesterday, asserting America's claim to act as a guarantor in country that was part of the former Soviet Union.
Cheney's pledge, offered during a visit to Kiev, coincided with the arrival of a US Navy command ship, the Mount Whitney, off the Black Sea port of Poti, close to positions taken by the Russian military in last month's invasion.
American officials said the warship was delivering blankets and other relief supplies, but Russia immediately questioned whether its presence contravened international agreements, dating to 1936 and governing access by military vessels to the Black Sea.
The ship arrived off Poti one day after Cheney, on a tour of former Soviet satellite countries, flew to Tbilisi, Georgia to deliver a forceful American pledge to rebuild Georgia and its economy, to preserve its sovereignty and its territory and to bring it into the NATO alliance in defiance of Russia.
The Mount Whitney was the third American warship to sail into the Black Sea in the last month, a naval relief operation the Russians have denounced as military, not humanitarian.
Like Georgia, Ukraine is seeking membership in NATO. After meeting with President Viktor Yushchenko, Cheney repeated yesterday that Ukraine would one day join the alliance and said Ukrainians should be able to live "without the threat of tyranny, economic blackmail and military invasion or intimidation," the Associated Press reported. He said Washington had a "deep and abiding interest" in Ukraine's security.
Cheney spent just 4 1/2 hours in Georgia, but the visit included a strong rebuke to Russia and a visit to American troops unloading humanitarian supplies at the airport here within sight of an airplane factory that Russian bombs had damaged.
The United States pledged $1 billion Wednesday to help Georgia recover from its defeat by Russia's armed forces, which continue to control two breakaway regions, as well as buffer zones in Georgia. 