America pledges to support Ukraine against 'humiliating threats' #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG

American vice president Joe Biden today said the US would support Ukraine as he paid an official visit to the country.

Joe Biden said America was "ready to assist" [AP]

US vice president Joe Biden said America was "ready to assist" the country's new leaders, as he visited them in a show of support for the pro-Western government.
He also encouraged politicians to stamp out corruption as they rebuild their government, and said America would help the country end its dependance on Russian gas.
In the first high-level visit from a US official since the Ukraine crisis first erupted, Mr Biden told leaders from different political parties: "The opportunity to generate a united Ukraine and getting it right is within your grasp.
"We want to be your partner and friend in the project. We're ready to assist.
"You face some very daunting problems and some might say humiliating threats are taking place."
The group Mr Biden was addressing included three candidates running for president in the May 25 election.
He said that after former president Viktor Yanukovych fled the country in February after violent protests, the new government had been given a "second opportunity", adding: "You have to fight the cancer of corruption that is endemic in your system right now."

Mr Biden also met acting Ukrainian president Oleksandr Turchynov [AP]

I do not underestimate the challenges you all face

US vice president Joe Biden

He continued: "I want you to know I do not underestimate the incredible pressure you all are under.
"I do not underestimate the challenges you all face. And I do not underestimate the frustration you all must feel when someone like me comes along to say what a great opportunity this is for you all."
Mr Biden, who had earlier met with the acting Ukrainian president, told the group that the upcoming election may be the most important in the country's history.
He said: "The truth of the matter is your fellow countrymen expect a whole lot from you right now."
Ukraine has been in turmoil since November, when Kiev was rocked by violent protests over president Yanukovych's rejection of an economic pact with the EU.
Yanukovych fled to Russia in February.
Last month, Russia annexed the peninsula of Crimea after a hastily-arranged regional referendum, with pro-Russian separatist groups later seizing public buildings in towns across the east of the country, leading to clashes with Ukrainian troops.
The upcoming presidential elections are seen as an important step in resolving Ukraine's worst political crisis since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.