Biden Says Russia Must Fulfill Ukraine Peace Deal, Hand Back Crimea

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said during a visit to Kiev on Monday that Washington remained committed to its demands for Russia to adhere to a shaky Ukrainian peace agreement and hand back Crimea to Kiev.

The broad February deal struck in the Belarussian capital Minsk "cannot succeed if Russia does not fulfill its commitments," Biden said after talks in the Ukrainian capital with President Petro Poroshenko.

"The invasion by Russia of Crimea will not be accepted by us or by the international community. This attempted annexation is contrary to international law, is wrong, and will not be accepted in any circumstance," he said.

Biden's visit is his fourth to Kiev since Russia's troops overran Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March 2014 and then watched with approval as pro-Kremlin insurgents carved out their own region in the eastern industrial heartland of the ex-Soviet state.

Washington and the European Union support Kiev's view of Russia being an "aggressor" that orchestrated the separatist revolt in reprisal for the February 2014 ouster of a Moscow-backed president -- an assertion the Kremlin denies.

Fighting has eased somewhat since the warring sides signed a new truce on September 1. But Ukrainian soldiers and civilians still die almost daily by stepping on landmines and getting caught in the occasional combat that breaks out across the war zone.

"The U.S. stands firmly with the people of Ukraine in the face of continued, I emphasize, continued aggression from Russia and Russian-backed separatists," Biden said.

Biden also took the opportunity to urge Ukrainian authorities to do more to tackle the rampant graft that has plagued the county for much of its recent history, amid growing discontent among Ukrainians over Poroshenko's seeming inability to end the scourge.

"It's absolutely critical for Ukraine... to root out the cancer of corruption," Biden stressed.

"As long as you continue to make progress in fighting corruption and build a future of opportunity for all Ukraine, the U.S. will stand with you."

Poroshenko for his part told Biden that the 19-month war in which more than 8,000 have died "cannot be used as an excuse for failing to conduct reforms."

"We are grateful to Washington for its support of Ukraine," the pro-Western president said.