Ukraine crisis: Putin hopes for peace deal by Friday

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is hoping for a peace agreement to be reached between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels by Friday.

Mr Putin urged both sides to stop military action in eastern Ukraine, adding that his views and those of his Ukrainian counterpart were very close.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said they had agreed a "ceasefire process".

Meanwhile US President Barack Obama said Nato guaranteed the independence of its members the Baltic states.

"You've lost your independence once before, with Nato you'll never lose it again," Mr Obama said in the Estonian capital Tallinn.

He told his audience of US and Estonian military that their countries were stronger because they were democracies, but that their vision was threatened by "Russia's aggression against Ukraine".

He said that there were "provable facts" that Russian combat forces were on the ground in Ukraine.

"Nations have a right to determine their own future. This is why we stand with the people of Ukraine today," he said.

He added that Nato had to send an "unmistakeable message in support of Ukraine this week", as well as strengthening the defences of two other former Soviet republics, Georgia and Moldova.

A Nato summit opens in Wales on Thursday. It is expected to back plans for a rapid response force and bolster the alliance's presence in eastern Europe.

In other developments

• Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk rejected the ceasefire proposal. He said Kiev was seeking special ally status with Nato, and was beginning "project wall", the building of a "real border" with Russia
• Russia confirmed the death of journalist Andrei Stenin in Ukraine on 6 August, saying he had been killed in a Ukrainian government ambush on a convoy of rebels and refugees near Donetsk
• Russia is to hold military exercises in the south Siberian region of Altai this month involving more than 4,000 troops and air power, a defence ministry official told a Russian news agency

'Mutual understanding'

Speaking to journalists in the Mongolia capital Ulan Bator, Mr Putin said the two sides should reach agreement when they resumed talks in Minsk on Friday.

"Our views on the way to resolve the conflict, as it seemed to me, are very close," he said, referring to a phone conversation with Mr Poroshenko.

A Ukrainian policeman removes a weapon found in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, on Tuesday

US President Barack Obama reassured Estonian President Toomas Hendrik (right) in Tallinn that his country had Nato's support

Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) was visiting Mongolia on Wednesday

He said he was proposing a seven-point peace plan:

• The Ukrainian army and eastern rebels should stop "active offensive operations"
• Ukrainian troops must pull back to a distance where they would be unable to shell population centres
• International monitoring of the ceasefire
• No use of military jets against civilians
• "All-for-all" prisoner exchange without preconditions
• Humanitarian corridor for refugees and to deliver aid
• Restoration of destroyed infrastructure.

Mr Poroshenko's office initially reported that a "permanent ceasefire" had been agreed but later revised its statement.