Ukraine will be top item of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin meeting: White House

Ukraine will be the top item of discussion when US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in New York next week, the White House said on Thursday.

"When the president sits down with President Putin, the top item on his agenda will be Ukraine," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a news briefing.

He said Putin had requested the meeting with Obama, and the exact date of the meeting, on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, had yet to be decided.