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EU summit looks at boosting Kiev, punishing Russia

BRUSSELS - The EU Commission president wants a two-day summit of European Union leaders to center on boosting the fledgling government in Ukraine, rather than focus exclusively on sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Thursday the 28 nations need to bolster the new authorities in Ukraine with political commitments and economic aid.

Barroso said that the most urgent thing is to make sure a "credible, stable, viable, democratic, prosperous Ukraine" survives after President Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia Feb. 21 and an interim government under Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was installed.

Yatsenyuk arrived in Brussels to sign a political agreement with EU leaders on Friday.

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