NATO keeps hopes for Ukraine, Georgia

NATO leaders agreed yesterday the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia would one day join NATO despite Russian opposition.

"We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference, reading from a communique agreed at a summit of the defense alliance's 26 leaders in Bucharest.

Alliance leaders failed on Wednesday to agree to offer Ukraine and Georgia a Membership Action Plan (MAP), a gateway to eventual membership, but decided yesterday to review their progress in December, diplomats said.