Ukraine signs pact with EU to break away from Russia

In a historic moment today, Ukraine signed a broad political and trade accord with the European Union, marking a shift away from Russia and closer to the Western powers.

The signing of the agreement is a victory for pro-EU Ukrainians, who drove Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovich out of power after he abandoned the pact last year in favour of ''cash from Moscow'', as Reuter reports.

New President Petro Poroshenko said he hoped to bind the nation of 45 million to the European Union through the accord.

But the victory was not entirely a triumph; it led to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and to attempts by pro-Russians in eastern Ukraine to break away and join Russia.

Ukraine also incurred considerable costs when it lost Crimea. One government minister estimated the country had lost resources worth $10 billion.

The association agreement with the EU falls short of full membership, but it may offset some of those costs. It should tie Kiev economically into the 28-nation European Union.

It could also offer Ukraine a route to the kind of stability and prosperity that neighbouring Poland has achieved.

Moldova and Georgia are also signing the new agreement, designed to offer cooperation rather than actual membership.

Reacting to the development Russian President Vladimir Putin today said the forced deal has only helped to split Ukrainian society, which has to choose between Europe and Russia.

"The anti-constitutional coup in Kiev, the attempts to impose an artificial choice between Europe and Russia have pushed society to a split, to a painful internal confrontation," Putin said in Moscow. "Ukraine must return to a path towards peace, dialogue and agreement," he said as he received foreign ambassadors in the Kremlin.

"The main thing is to ensure a long-term ceasefire as a necessary condition for holding thorough negotiations between Kiev authorities and representatives of the southeast regions." "We are sincerely trying to assist in the peace process," Putin added.

Western leaders have been pressuring Putin to help Kiev authorities end the conflict in the separatist east, where the regions of Lugansk and Donetsk have declared independence and are battling against government troops. Moscow has denied any involvement in the conflict.

Putin has now urged Kiev to grant more autonomy to the Russian-speaking regions and extend the ceasefire announced last Friday and is set to expire later in the day.