KIEV, Sept. 23 – Ukraine is moving steadfastly along the road of European integration, Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

As the same time, Ukraine also needs to maintain strong ties with Russia, the president said. Given Ukraine's location and its desire to profit from Russian energy shipments to the EU, "we are doomed to keep a good balance," he said.

Yanukovych described the previous stand-off between Ukraine and Russia as "not only detrimental for our two countries, but for the rest of the world." He said trade between Ukraine and Russia, which had fallen sharply, was now "getting back on track."