BRUSSELS, Aug. 28 – The upcoming European Union-Ukraine summit next month will be crucial in sending a message to Russia that its assertive policy will not be tolerated, a senior Ukrainian diplomat said Thursday.

Kostiantyn Yeliseyev, deputy foreign minister, also said Ukraine hopes the EU, at the summit on Sept. 9 in Evian, France, will clearly stipulate that Kiev will one day become a member.

“Everybody in our region is looking to what will happen at the European summit,” Yeliseyev told a group of reporters in Brussels following talks with EU officials, according to theParliament.com, a European politics magazine.

“We are not looking for automatic or immediate membership, but merely a political signal that the future of Ukraine lies in the EU,” Yeliseyev said.

The summit comes weeks after Russian troops and tanks have invaded Georgia, crippling the country’s civilian infrastructure and military capabilities, in a sign that Moscow has become more assertive in foreign policy.

“If the summit is not a success it will send negative signals to Georgia, Belarus and Moldova and will send encouraging signals to Russia that it can influence EU policy,” Yeliseyev said.

Many decision-makers in Europe now believe that Ukraine may become the next target for Russia, which has been seeking to expand its influence on its neighbors in the region.

Yeliseyev said there could not be “business as usual” after the crisis in Georgia and urged EU leaders to “wake up” to the reality of the current political landscape.

“The situation in Georgia is a real threat to Ukrainian security,” Yeliseyev said. “Georgia shows that we need to move quickly.”

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who visited Ukraine on Wednesday to assemble “the widest possible” coalition against Russia’s “aggression” in Georgia, said among other things the EU must “bolster its allies.”

In Evian, Ukraine will be seeking an “association” agreement with the 27-member bloc, which would include recognition of Ukraine’s EU aspirations, a free trade area and the possibility to open up a dialogue on visa-free travel to the EU.

Poland and the Baltic countries, as well as Sweden and the U.K., have always insisted that Ukraine is a European nation and therefore deserves a place at the table.

But the nations of "Old Europe" are opposed, amid concerns about continued enlargement and also about irritating Russia, which has flexed its energy, political and now most recently military muscles.

This means Ukraine has remained cordoned off in the EU's "neighborhood policy," along with Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova.

The European Commission's official line is that the E.U.'s door is neither open nor closed to Kiev.

France, which holds the E.U.'s rotating presidency, has recently warmed to Ukraine's candidature, according to AFP report that cited the French ambassador in Brussels. Yeliseyev said Russia's intervention in Georgia may have tipped the scales.

The current opponents include Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, according to a person familiar with the situation

Of the three countries, Ukraine hopes the biggest and most powerful, Germany, will soften its stance in the final days before the summit.

"We count very much on the leadership of Germany and on their courage," Yeliseyev said. (tl/ez)