(PARIS) - Ukraine's territorial integrity is "non-negotiable", French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday following an EU-Ukraine summit overshadowed by the Georgia conflict.

"You asked me a question about the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Sarkozy told a joint news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko.

"In the eyes of Europe, it is absolutely non-negotiable," he said.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU presidency, hosted the summit with Yushchenko, who was hoping to win a stronger commitment for eventual membership in the 27-nation bloc.

Ukraine sees membership in the European Union and NATO as key to anchor it to Europe -- and away from Moscow's orbit, following the conflict last month between Georgia and Russia.

Sarkozy, who brokered a ceasefire accord that ended the fighting, cautioned that Russia had not given any indication that it could target Ukraine, home to a large ethnic Russian minority and to the Black Sea fleet which is based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

"In the discussions that we held yesterday in Moscow, there was nothing that would allow me to think that this was a problem," said Sarkozy.

For his part, Yushchenko urged the EU to take action to promote stability in the region, saying that the Georgia-Russia conflict "showed that the Black Sea region lacks an adequate security mechanism."

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