NATO and Ukraine, during the alliance's summit in Newport (Wales), will discuss steps towards the strengthening of their partnership, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said.

"We will have a meeting with [Ukrainian] President [Petro] Poroshenko today, and we will be able to outline concrete steps to enhance our partnership," he told reporters before the opening of the NATO summit in Newport, when asked whether the possibility of Ukraine's membership of NATO will be discussed at the summit.

Rasmussen also said that Russian aggression against Ukraine would be one of the main issues on the agenda of the summit.

"We continue to call on Russia to pull back its troops from Ukraine's borders, stop the flow of weapons and fighters into Ukraine, stop the support for armed militants in Ukraine and engage in a constructive political process," he said.

He also noted that the alliance welcomes a peaceful settlement of the crisis in Ukraine.

"On the so-called peace plan [by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko], let me stress that we welcome all efforts to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine. We are still witnessing, unfortunately, Russian involvement in destabilizing the situation in eastern Ukraine," he said.

As reported, Poroshenko will attend the NATO summit in Wales.