US VICE-PRESIDENT Joe Biden journeyed to Ukraine today to celebrate the first anniversary of the coup that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych with Kiev’s new rulers.

The coup sparked a spirited resistance in the east of the country which has fought back against Kiev’s forces in a conflict that has cost the lives of more than 4,300 people since mid-April.

During his visit, the US vice-president was tasked with trying to shore up a tattered ceasefire, which has been in place since September 5 but which has failed to prevent almost 1,000 people from dying in fighting since, according to the United Nations.

The Kiev government, which says the right-wing coup was a revolution, had vainly hoped that Mr Biden would announce US military assistance.

Washington has so far limited its support to non-lethal security assistance and Russia has warned that if the US was to arm Ukrainian forces, the conflict “would grow.”

Nevertheless, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on Thursday that he that hoped for an announcement on further US assistance following a $53 million (£34m) aid package in September.

That included non-lethal military equipment such as night-vision goggles, body armour and radios.

But Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters that the US was “still focused on non-lethal assistance right now.”

Ironically, in an interview in a Kiev newspaper, Mr Biden accused Russia of “interfering in the affairs of a sovereign state.”