Ukraine sets sights on joining NATO

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (R) greets Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko at the start of the NATO summit at the Celtic Manor resort, near Newport, in Wales September 4, 2014. REUTERS/Andrew Winning

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine, locked in conflict with Russian-backed separatists in its east, on Thursday drew up a new security doctrine denouncing Russia's "aggression" and setting its sights on joining the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

Oleksander Turchynov, head of the national security council, told a session of the body that Ukraine saw Russian aggression as a "long-standing factor" and viewed NATO membership as "the only reliable external guarantee" of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.