U.S. Navy ship anchors outside Georgia

Show of support for Ukraine
Ukraine was the third country Cheney has visited this week, after oil-rich Azerbaijan and Georgia, where Washington announced $1 billion economic aid package to help Georgia rebuild.

Cheney reiterated Friday that Ukraine would eventually join NATO, despite fierce resistance from Moscow.

"The United States has a deep and abiding interest in your well-being and security," Cheney said following talks with President Viktor Yushchenko. "We believe in the right of men and women to live without threat of tyranny, economic blackmail and military invasion or intimidation."

The show of support was important for Yushchenko's Western-leaning government, which has pushed strongly for closer ties with the European Union and NATO.

"We value our strategic bilateral relationship highly," Yushchenko told Cheney. "On the majority of the issues, including Georgia, we have an understanding with the United States."

Yushchenko has also objected to Russia using its ships stationed in Sevastopol, a leased Russian military base in Ukraine, during the war, and condemned Russia's decision to recognize Georgia's two separatist areas as independent states.

Cheney met separately with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, discussing regional security and efforts to diversify energy supplies.

Cheney's visit came during a political crisis pitting Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, coalition partners, against one another, setting Ukraine's government teetering on the verge of collapse.

In the French city of Avignon, European Union nations called Friday for an international probe to determine which country should shoulder responsibility for starting the war between Georgia and Russia.

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