New Ukraine Defense Chief Vows to Stand up to Russia

Ukraine's new defense minister vowed on Tuesday to build an army capable of withstanding Russia as sparks flew in advance of talks between Moscow and Washington over their worst standoff since the Cold War.

Pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko turned to the popular head of Ukraine's frontline forces in his search for the fourth defense chief since Russia's seizure of Crimea in March and the subsequent separatist uprising in the east.

National Guard chief Stepan Poltorak quickly confirmed Poroshenko's political hopes and his own reputation as one of Ukraine's most revered soldiers by winning parliamentary confirmation in a 245-1 vote that came without a debate.

Poroshenko will hope that Poltorak manages to instill confidence in a demoralized force that has lost around 1,000 soldiers in a six-month war with pro-Russian guerrillas who have proclaimed independence in the economically-vital rustbelt.

National Security and defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said seven Ukrainian troops had been killed in the past day alone -- the heaviest toll since the warring sides agreed a truce on September 5.

Ukraine's worst crisis since independence in 1991 has claimed 3,400 lives and not only threatened to break up the country but also set back relations between Moscow and the West to an era when they viewed each other as direct threats.

Kiev and its Western allies accuse Moscow of inciting the separatist uprising and covertly sending in special forces to pay back Ukraine's new leaders for their February ouster of a Kremlin-backed president.

Poltorak told lawmakers in a brief but combative address that his top priority rested in building a reliable defense against Russia through a brand new army that Kiev hopes to equip with NATO weapons.

"Ukraine needs peace, and only a modern, well-trained and well-supplied mobile armed forces can guarantee this peace," said the 49-year-old career military man.

But he also asked lawmakers to give him "time and support" -- an appeal made more relevant by new rules that go into effect after the October 26 election giving parliament the power to dismiss ministers.

Former defense minister Valeriy Geletey submitted his resignation three months into his term after turning into a political liability for Poroshenko heading into the parliamentary vote.

Geletey bore the blame for allowing a contingent of Ukrainian soldiers to be trapped near the Russian border in late August by better-equipped insurgents who outnumbered them.

More than 100 troops died after trying for days to hold off the rebels without any support from nearby Ukrainian units.

The bloodbath shocked the nation and soon prompted Kiev to sign a Russian-backed peace pact with separatist leaders granting them limited self-rule.

Poroshenko called his new defense minister a man "of great military experience who enjoys broad respect among members of the (eastern campaign) and has a strategic vision of defense industry reforms."

Poltorak's confirmation came hours before US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were to sit down in Paris with their list of grievances against each other having only grown since their last meeting at the United Nations three weeks ago.

Russia has also condemned U.S.-led attacks on jihadist fighter positions in Syria -- where the war between old Kremlin ally Damascus and rebels had upset relations between the two powers even before the Ukraine crisis flared.

But Lavrov is expected to try skirt Syria and instead try to impress on Kerry that his defense of tough Western sanctions on Russia were eroding hopes of an economic recovery in Europe and straining Washington's own ties with Brussels.

Russian President Vladimir Putin boosted Lavrov's hand on Saturday by calling back from the Ukrainian border 17,600 soldiers he had parked there when Kiev's soldiers were making their most significant gains this summer.

The sanctions have cut Russia's access to Western money markets and forced its biggest state firms to appeal for massive rescues that will further limit the government's ability to meet its social commitments.

They also threaten to tip Russia into recession and ensure that growth remains anemic through the remaining four years of Putin's third term.