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Russias military intervention in Ukraine is unacceptable and rebel elections this month were a Kremlin-orchestrated farce, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said during a visit to Kiev.

Russia shelled Ukrainian territory for the first time since a Sept. 5 cease-fire agreement was signed in Minsk, Belarus, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in Kiev yesterday. Russia is moving tanks, artillery and air-defense systems into Ukraine in blatant violation of international law, North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Kaunas, Lithuania.

Biden condemned the threat to Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity posed by Russian aggression, in a speech after meeting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. It is simply not acceptable in the 21st century for countries to attempt to redraw borders by force in Europe or anywhere, or to intervene militarily because they dont like decisions their neighbor has made, he said.

Bidens visit coincided with the first anniversary of the start of the Euromaidan protests that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych in February and triggered the conflict. Authorities in Kiev named Nov. 21 a new national holiday, the Day of Dignity and Freedom. Poroshenkos political bloc and four other pro-European Union parties signed a ruling coalition agreement following Oct. 26 elections. The president reiterated an ambition to apply for membership in the block by 2020.

Reforms must be started immediately, Poroshenko said yesterday in a national address on state television. Their aim is to reach European standards of living gradually so that in 2020 we will be able to apply for EU membership. That is what the draft coalition agreement is about.

Thousands of people gathered, many wrapped in Ukrainian flags and bearing candles and flowers, at a monument in central Kiev where about 100 protesters were killed in violent clashes with police before Yanukovychs ouster.

In the past 24 hours, four Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded, while pro-Russian rebel forces shelled government positions 79 times, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said today on its Facebook page. Insurgents also shelled civilian areas in Donetsk, and Luhansk 18 times, the ministry said. One civilian was killed by mortar fire in the Luhansk town of Zolote, regional Governor Hennadiy Moskal said on his website.

Russia, which denies involvement in the conflict, is opposed to Ukraine deepening ties with the EU, while the government in Kiev and its U.S. and European allies accuse Russian President Vladimir Putins government of supporting the separatists with cash, weapons and fighters.

The conflict has intensified since rebels in the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk held elections earlier this month, which Biden condemned along with Russias March annexation of the Crimea peninsula.

They were not democratic elections, he said. They were a Kremlin-orchestrated farce. Let me say as clearly as I can: America does not and will not recognize the Russian occupation and annexation of Crimea.

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