Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku has appealed to world powers to adopt a United Nations resolution that would clear the way for the province's independence.

Russia has warned other world powers not to decide the fate of Kosovo on their own. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the start of a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in Potsdam, Germany, that only talks between Belgrade and Pristina could solve a row over independence for the Serbian province.

The top U.S. diplomat involved in negotiations on the final status of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province says United Nations discussions of the issue are proceeding rapidly.

The United States and its European allies have circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would set Kosovo on the path to independence from Serbia. VOA's Peter Heinlein at U.N. headquarters reports sponsors are pushing for speedy approval of the measure.

Western powers including US and its European allies have introduced a resolution in the Security Council backing a UN plan calling for Kosovo's independence from Serbia despite stiff opposition from veto-wielding Russia.

Washington's ambassador at the United Nations says most Security Council members back a plan to grant supervised independence to Kosovo. But as VOA's correspondent at the U.N. Peter Heinlein reports, veto-wielding Russia remains opposed to the plan.

The United States and European countries are set to introduce a resolution in the United Nations Security Council calling for independence for Serbia's province of Kosovo. The U.S. ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he believes a majority of the Security Council's 15 member nations will support the proposal for internationally supervised independence for Kosovo.

The U.N. Security Council is considering two separate proposals for a resolution on the future of Kosovo. From U.N. headquarters, VOA's Peter Heinlein reports one plan endorses Kosovo's independence, the other urges a go-slow approach.

The NATO allies have restated their support for the United Nations plan on the future of Serbia's Kosovo province, but have cautioned ethnic Albanians there against taking unilateral action.

After the hot talks between Russia and NATO on the missile defenses, NATO foreign ministers had a new discussion. The issues was Moscow-Kosovo, the development of relationship with Ukraine and further expansion of the Western alliance.

The United Nations Security Council has begun a fact-finding mission to the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo, led by Belgian Ambassador Johan Verbeke. The mission was initiated by Russia, a veto-holding member of the council that is strongly opposed to Kosovo's independence.

Moscow gave the strongest indication that it might veto the proposal of eventual independence of Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo. A senor Russian diplomat said that this U.N. plan will not pass, local news agencies reported.