WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Ukraine Sunday, hoping to reassure Kiev that it will not be abandoned as the West seeks to enlist Russia in the fight against the Islamic State group, AFP reported.

Biden will meet Ukrainian leaders and make a rare address to the Ukrainian parliament, delivering a message of solidarity, according to senior administration officials.

"One of the major goals of the trip is to remind the Ukrainian people and the world, frankly, that even as so much international attention has shifted toward Russia’s involvement in Syria... that we, the United States, haven’t forgotten about Ukraine, that Ukraine remains central to our national interest.”

"Nothing that is going on in the Middle East has changed one iota our commitment to the Ukrainian people and their security."

Two years ago an uprising in Ukraine led to the fall of the pro-Russian government, prompting Moscow to annex Crimea and back separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Despite tough international sanctions against Moscow, all of Crimea and a tranche of Ukraine's industrial heartland remains outside the control of the central government.

With Washington and European capitals eager that Russian forces in Syria tackle the Islamic State, Kiev worries Moscow is being brought back into the international fold.

President Barack Obama has already accepted multiple meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and there are worries that sanctions against Russia could soon be lifted.

US officials insist sanctions will stay in place until Russia abides by the "Minsk" peace plan that includes the withdrawal of foreign troops, and returning control of the border to Ukraine.

"One of the things that we have made clear to the Russians from the get-go -- and we have made this equally clear to all of our friends in Europe and to the Ukrainians -- is that our dialogue with Russia on Syria and Assad is completely compartmented from the Ukraine,” said one official.

"Nothing in our conversations (regarding) Syria impact our assessment that Russia continues to be the aggressor in Ukraine.”

The official added that the United States is in agreement that “until Russia complies with its obligations under Minsk and gets the separatists to do the same, that these sanctions are not going to come off. (afp/ez)