U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is in Kiev for talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko as NATO presses Russia to pull back its troops from inside eastern Ukraine.

Bidens visit comes as Ukrainians mark a new national holiday today, the Day of Dignity and Freedom, on the first anniversary of the start of the Euromaidan protests that ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych in February. Deadly exchanges of fire between troops and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine underlined the continuing crisis in the country.

We call on Russia to stop fueling the conflict, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said yesterday as he urged Russian President Vladimir Putins government to use all its influence to make sure the separatists respect a Sept. 5 cease-fire that has been broken almost daily.

The Ukrainian crisis has intensified since rebels in the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk held Nov. 2 elections that the government in Kiev condemned as illegitimate. Ukraine, the European Union and the U.S. accuse Putin of supporting the separatists. Russia denies involvement.

One Ukrainian soldier was killed and 18 wounded in clashes during the past 24 hours, the National Security and Defense Council in Kiev said in a statement on Facebook. Separatists attacked Ukrainian positions 39 times and the military fired 18 times to repel rebel attacks, it said.

Biden didnt join Poroshenko and other political leaders at a memorial ceremony today to more than 100 people killed in clashes with security forces in February near Kievs Independence Square, known as Maidan. A group of people heckled the president, shouting shame on you, and said they were relatives of the dead who wanted them recognized as national heroes.

Poroshenko left the ceremony then returned a short time later promising to sign a decree tonight that those people are heroes of Ukraine, prompting applause and tears among the crowd.

Poroshenkos political party said earlier that it had reached a coalition agreement with four other parties following the Oct. 26 parliamentary elections. The Poroshenko Bloc, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuks Peoples Front, the Samopomich Party, the Radical Party, and Yulia Tymoshenkos Batkivshchyna party signed the draft agreement today, according to a statement on the Poroshenko Blocs website.

NATO rejected a Russian demand that Ukraine guarantee it wont join the military alliance as a violation of the countrys sovereignty, Stoltenberg said during a visit to Tallinn, Estonia, yesterday. He urged Russia to withdraw its forces from eastern Ukraine and from the border area.

Russia accused the U.S. of instigating the violence. The U.S. was one of the initiators of the conflict in Ukraine, and if they supply weapons there, the conflict will grow, State Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told reporters in Moscow yesterday.

Excerpt from:

NATO Rejects Russia Demand for Unaligned Ukraine as Biden Visits