WARSAW, July 9 - Ukraine won promises of continued support at a NATO summit on Saturday but the prospect of Kiev's eventual membership of the U.S.-led military alliance seemed as distant as ever as the West seeks a tentative rapprochement with Russia, Reuters reported.

NATO agreed during the two-day Warsaw summit to boost its eastern flank in response to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and Moscow's subsequent backing for rebels fighting Kiev troops in east Ukraine.

Speaking at a joint news conference with President Petro Poroshenko, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia must stop its "political, military and financial support for separatists" in east Ukraine.

"Allies are united in their support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said. "We do not and we will not recognize Russia's illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea and we condemn Russia's deliberate destabilization of eastern Ukraine."

He restated NATO's political support for Ukraine and said the alliance would help Kiev tackle risks from improvised explosive devices on top of other assistance aimed at improving Ukraine's military capabilities that had been agreed before.

"These decisions demonstrate that NATO stands firmly for Ukraine," Poroshenko told the presser. "Now we have to make the necessary reforms"

"They will bring us closer to the criteria and then the people of Ukraine will decide what we'll do further," he said of the prospect of Ukraine's eventual NATO membership, which had been promised to Kiev in 2008 but is now off the table.

For all the friendly rhetoric, Kiev has come under increased pressure from the West in recent weeks to devolve power and hold local elections in the east Ukraine, where a truce is patchy.

The broader peace plan for the eastern Donbas region, negotiated in Minsk between Ukraine and Russia by Germany and France, has stalled for months. Paris and Berlin have now renewed efforts to implement it in full.

That means Kiev should also grant Donbas a special legal status and decentralize the country through a constitutional reform. Moscow is obliged to help Kiev regain control of Ukraine's eastern border, and both sides must withdraw heavy arms to ensure an effective ceasefire in east Ukraine.

The leaders of the United States, Germany, France and Italy met Poroshenko separately on the sidelines of the summit to express support for Ukraine, a White House official said.

"The leaders agreed that Ukraine has made considerable progress on political, economic, and anti-corruption reforms, but that more work must be done," the official added.

Poroshenko and French President Francois Hollande both said the six leaders worked on a 'roadmap' of security steps needed in Donbas to permit elections there in the coming months. (rt/ez)