More on Rasmussen's description of the Ukraine conflict:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said ahead of a NATO summit in Wales that “Russia is attacking Ukraine” and continuing to destabilize the situation in eastern Ukraine despite a cease-fire plan proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rasmussen said what matters in Ukraine is not Russia’s words, but its actions on the ground.
He said leaders at the summit would take steps to counter threats the crisis poses to member states, including adopting a “readiness action plan” to rotate alliance troops through military bases in some of NATO’s easternmost states.
He said NATO leaders would meet Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on September 4 and “adopt a joint declaration that outlines concrete steps” that enhance cooperation with Ukraine, which is not an alliance member.
Rasmussen also said NATO allies would seriously consider any request for help from the Iraqi government for help against Islamic State militants.
LATEST: NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said ahead of a NATO summit in Wales that "Russia is attacking Ukraine" and continuing to destabilize the situation in the eastern Ukraine despite a cease-fire plan proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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After a week of intense fighting, Ukraine's National Guard ceded the village of Novosvitlivka, near Luhansk, to pro-Russian separatist forces. Video shot on Septermber 3 by RFE/RL correspondent Andrei Babitsky shows remains of Ukrainian armored vehicles scattered around the village and a school destroyed by artillery fire. (RFE/RL's Moldova Service)
Mourners gathered in the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk on September 3 to commemorate soldiers of the Dnipro volunteer battalion who were killed in August battling pro-Russian separatists in Ilovaysk, a town near Donetsk in the country's east. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
According to yesterday's map of the military situation in the east, Debaltseve looks likely to be cut off:
NATO's outgoing chief outlines goals for the summit in Wales: