WASHINGTON — The Bush Administration said Monday that it is moving toward "full diplomatic recognition" of the Ukraine and announced that Secretary of State James A. Baker III will visit Kiev and Moscow next week to discuss the republic's transition to independence.

Abandoning the restrained approach that the Administration had followed just days ago, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that "the United States looks forward to the kind of normal relationship with the Ukraine that one would expect it to have with a democratizing country."

The announcement, signaling new support for the dismantling of the Soviet Union, came one day after Ukrainian voters expressed overwhelming support for independence from the Soviet Union. It was carefully crafted to demonstrate support for the Ukraine, tip the presidential hat to Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin and continue to show support for Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's struggle to retain a role for the central government.

In voicing strong support for an independent, resource-rich Ukraine, which would be one of the largest nations in Europe, the White House is stepping into a confusing world in which it is showing support for independent republics, while also calling for the sort of stability offered by a central government in the Kremlin.

Four months ago, Bush warned legislators in Kiev against following "a suicidal nationalism based on ethnic hatred"--a comment widely interpreted as pressuring the republics not to secede, even as he said that the United States would not pick "winners and losers" in the emerging struggle.

Recognizing the shifts taking place, Fitzwater said that, in developing a relationship with the Ukraine, "we also intend to continue our cooperation with President Gorbachev and his government and to strengthen our expanding ties with President Yeltsin and the Russian government, as well as the other republics."

Still, he said, "we obviously are moving toward full diplomatic recognition" of the Ukraine. That is a step for which there is no timetable, officials said, although one senior Administration official said: "I suspect it will come sooner rather than later."

The next step will be a visit later this week to Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, by Thomas Niles, assistant secretary of state for European affairs. His primary assignment, Fitzwater said, will be to: