Kiev/Moscow - US Vice President Dick Cheney shook hands with Ukrainian leaders Friday in a short tour of strategic allies in the region amid the fall-out from the brief war between Georgia and Russia.

Cheney was meeting with President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the throes of the latest domestic feud between pro-Western and Russian-leaning blocs in the former Soviet state.

But both quarrelling leaders, like neighbouring Georgia, are anxious for NATO and European Union membership, aspirations that anger Moscow, which views both states as part of its sphere of influence.

Friction between the West and Russia has peaked over its military actions in Georgia's breakaway regions last month.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner voiced fears that Ukraine could become another hot spot where Russia would use force to gain control of the Russian-speaking Crimean peninsula where its Black Sea fleet is docked.

Cheney's visit, the third leg of a tour of former Soviet states, is aimed at reiterating US backing for its allies, including their NATO bid.

It also aims to castigate Russia for its actions in Georgia.

The vice president's visit took him first to the Caucasus states of Georgia and oil-rich Azerbaijan that are the links in US-led pipeline plans to pump oil from the Caspian Sea and cut out Russian intermediaries.

The tour came as military tensions mounted in the Black Sea, now home to a total of six NATO warships, including three US vessels delivering aid to Georgia.

Russia's powerful prime minister, Vladimir Putin, warned Moscow would react to a further build-up of NATO naval ships.

Yushchenko, a firm ally of Georgia, faced off Russian and domestic opposition and imposed restrictions on Russian fleet movement at the port it rents in Sevastopol and which fielded ships to Georgia's coast during the conflict.

Moscow has avidly protested Ukraine and Georgia's NATO bid as a threat to its security, bringing the alliance flush with its borders.

But the crisis in Georgia has added urgency to Yushchenko's calls for his country's entry into NATO, leading to increased clashes at home.

In polls, the eastern part of Ukraine bordering Russia almost unanimously opposes joining NATO, marking a political rift in the former Soviet state.

As Cheney met the leaders in Kiev, parliament was on the brink of a forced vote after its so-called Orange coalition broke apart when Tymoshenko's party moved to cut Yushchenko's powers by voting with the pro-Russian bloc.

Later Thursday, Cheney was due to visit Ukraine's memorial to famine victims from the Soviet period before leaving for a final stop in Italy. (dpa)