(PARIS) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy meets his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko Tuesday for a summit expected to offer Ukraine closer ties with the EU but no immediate prospect of joining the bloc.

Ukraine had been hoping that Moscow's actions in Georgia, a fellow European Union and NATO hopeful, would work in its favour as fears grow of a resurgent Russia seeking renewed influence in its former Soviet satellites.

Kiev's ambassador to Moscow said Monday his country had no option but to one day join the European Union, urging the bloc to send a positive signal on future membership to advance the cause of reform in Ukraine.

"We are a European country, our place is in Europe," Konstyantyn Gryshchenko said.

Ukrainian leaders are concerned that its mainly Russian-populated autonomous region of Crimea may fall under Moscow's influence in the same way as Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The Paris summit was moved at the last moment from the French town of Evian following delays in a trip by Sarkozy, as holder of the EU presidency, to Moscow and Tbilisi to discuss the aftermath of the conflict.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said that the European Union should clearly signal its support for Ukraine's future membership to prevent it from becoming Russia's "next target".

But this possibility appears to have been shelved after lengthy debate between the 27 current member states, routinely at odds over how to deal with the former Soviet republic.

An official at the French presidency said Tuesday's summit would lay down the "political framework" for a reinforced partnership deal with Ukraine, set to be finalised "in 2009, if all goes well."

A draft summit statement, drawn up for Sarkozy, Yushchenko and EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to approve, makes no use of the key phrase "European perspective," eurospeak for an agreed goal of eventual EU membership.

The EU does however make one gesture towards Kiev, calling its partnership with Ukraine an "association agreement" -- the term used for countries which do have a recognised future within the bloc.

The EU nations will also recognise that Ukraine is a European country which shared a common history and values.

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

But other European nations, led by Germany, are opposed to the idea amid concerns over continued enlargement, and fears of irritating Russia.

Bitter in-fighting between Ukraine's Western-oriented president and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, sharpened by divisions over ties with Russia, has done little to advance the cause of EU membership.

Relations between Yushchenko and his one-time ally have badly deteriorated, with the presidency accusing Tymoshenko of "high treason" for allegedly siding with Moscow over the Georgia conflict.

The French presidency official said the summit, which kicks off at 1:30 pm (1130 GMT), was a "chance to send a political message to Ukraine, from the whole European continent," defending the decision to uphold the talks despite the political turmoil in Ukraine.

"Ukrainian society is maturing fast, its economy is doing pretty well, but its political life is having trouble finding stability," the official said.

"If we waited for it to stabilise before holding a summit between the EU and Ukraine, we would not see each other very often."

EU-Ukraine Summit on 9 September in Evian

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