Pro-Russian rebels lower demands in peace talks

Pro-Russian rebels have reportedly softened their demand for full independence, saying they would respect Ukraine's sovereignty in exchange for autonomy — a shift that reflects Moscow's desire to strike a deal at a new round of peace talks later this week that would allow Russia to avoid more punitive Western sanctions while preserving a significant degree of leverage over its neighbor.

The insurgents' demand, released at the start of Monday's negotiations in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, represented a significant change in their vision for the future of Ukraine's eastern, mainly Russian-speaking region.

It remains unclear, however, whether the talks can reach a compromise amid the brutal fighting that has continued in eastern Ukraine. On Monday, the rebels pushed Ukrainian government forces from an airport near Luhansk, the second-largest rebel-held city, the latest in a series of military gains.

In response, President Barack Obama and NATO leaders announced the organization would upgrade its military readiness to provide a more visible presence in eastern European member states disturbed by Russia's actions in Ukraine.

This will "ensure that we have the right forces and the right equipment in the right place, at the right time," NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday. "That also means a more visible NATO presence in the east for as long as required."

The plan envisages creating a force of several thousand troops contributed on a rotating basis by the 28 NATO countries. Equipment and supplies for the force are to be stockpiled in eastern Europe "so this force can travel light, but strike hard if needed," Rasmussen said.

European Union governments, meanwhile, will decide on a package of new sanctions against Russia by Friday, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini told the European Parliament on Tuesday, as she called for "the strongest possible response."

Her remarks come as Russia said that Ukraine's moves on Friday to join NATO were aimed at undermining efforts to end the war in the east of the country. Moscow called on Washington to use its influence and "talk sense" into Kiev.

The peace talks in Minsk follow last week's meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, after which Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said his government would ask parliament to abandon Ukraine's nonaligned status and set the country on a course to seek to become a member of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

The Minsk negotiations involve former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Russia's ambassador to Ukraine, an envoy from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and representatives of the rebels.

Similar talks earlier this summer produced no visible results. But unlike the previous rounds, this time rebels said that they are willing to discuss "the preservation of the united economic, cultural and political space of Ukraine," according to a statement carried by Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency. In return, they demanded a comprehensive amnesty and broad local powers that would include being able to appoint their own local law enforcement officials.

This deal is only for eastern Ukraine. There are no negotiations on handing back Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in March, a move that cost Ukraine several major ports, half its coastline and untold billions in Black Sea oil and mineral rights.

The talks lasted several hours on Monday and were adjourned until Friday, when the parties are to discuss a cease-fire and an exchange of prisoners, rebel negotiator Andrei Purgin said, according to RIA Novosti.

Over the weekend, meanwhile, EU leaders agreed to prepare a new round of sanctions that could be enacted in a week, after NATO accused Russia of sending tanks and troops into southeastern Ukraine. The NATO summit in Wales on Thursday is also expected to approve measures designed to counter Russia's aggressive actions in Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said participants in Monday's talks needed to push for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire. He rejected claims by the Ukrainian government, NATO and Western nations that Russia has already sent troops, artillery and tanks across Ukraine's southeast border to reinforce the separatists.

"There will be no military intervention," Lavrov told students at Moscow State Institute of International Relations on Monday, the first day of classes for schools and universities across Russia. "We call for an exclusively peaceful settlement of this severe crisis, this tragedy."

Despite the Russian denials, Ukrainian National Security Council spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said on Monday that "not less than four battalions and tactical groups of the Russian armed forces are active in Ukraine." A battalion consists of about 400 soldiers.

In the past week, after losing ground to Ukrainian troops for nearly a month, the rebels opened a new front along Ukraine's southeastern Sea of Azov coast and are pushing back elsewhere. The coastal assault has raised concerns that the rebels are aiming to establish a land corridor from Russia all the way to Crimea.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine between the separatists and the government in Kiev began in mid-April, a month after the annexation of Crimea. The fighting has killed nearly 2,600 people and displaced more than one million, including 814,000 Ukrainians now in Russia with various forms of status, the United Nations' refugee agency said on Tuesday.

Wire services