Top Donetsk rebel confirms change at east Ukraine separatists leadership camp

Aleksander Borodai, a Russian national who was leader of the self-proclaimed, pro-Russian "Donetsk People's Republic" in eastern Ukraine, confirmed he was quitting the post and that a local man, Alexander Zakharchenko, would take over.        

Sources told Reuters earlier in the day the change was likely to happen, in a move aimed at blunting Western accusations that the rebellion was being run by Moscow.

On another note, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk on Thursday discussed possible Western alliance support for Ukraine's defense capacity, a Kiev government statement said.    

The two men discussed ways in which a proposed NATO trust fund could be used to support Kiev's defense ability in areas including command and control, communications and cyberdefense, it said.      

Provision of lethal aid to Ukraine by the U.S.-led military alliance did not appear to have been discussed.       

Rasmussen arrived in Kiev for talks with the Ukrainian leadership after the Western alliance said Russia had amassed 20,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and warned Moscow could be planning a ground invasion in support of pro-Russian separatists.

Also on Thursday, the Ukrainian government said it was suspending a ceasefire with separatist rebels at the crash site of the Malaysian airliner after an international recovery mission had been halted.     

The Netherlands, which lost 196 of its citizens in the 298 passengers and crew who died on flight MH17 which was shot down on July 17, said on Wednesday it was halting the recovery mission because of continued fighting in the region.       

Prime Minister Mark Rutte told journalists in The Hague the risk posed to the team of 70 Australian, Dutch and Malaysian experts was too great to continue working in the area.         

A Ukrainian defence spokesman said Ukrainian forces were not carrying out any military action within 20 km (12 miles) of the site.           

A government statement said later: "Experts were in agreement that the ceasefire regime in the area of the downing of the plane ... will not be in force until there is a second stage of the investigation."