Obama urges Putin to seek diplomatic solution to Ukraine

President Obama urged President Putin to accept the terms of a potencial diplomatic solution to the continuing crisis in Ukraine during a one-hour call between the two men last night.

The call came just hours before the centre-right European People's Party, a grouping that includes a dozen heads of state and government in the European Union, is expected to declare that Ukraine may apply for EU membership.

With little sign of any immediate solution on the cards President Obama was left reiterating Washington's view that Russia's incursion into Crimea was a violation of Ukraine's sovereignity.