Obama's deputy national security adviser: It's Ukrainian authorities' task to bring situation in Ukraine back to normal

The scenes seen in Kyiv in recent days are completely outrageous, Ben Rhodes, U.S. President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, said on Wednesday.

"The scenes that we saw in Kyiv yesterday [February 18] were completely outrageous and have no place in the 21st century," he said.

Rhodes called on the Ukrainian authorities to find a way to bring the situation in Kyiv and other cities back to normal.

To normalize the situation in Ukraine is the task that the government rather than of the opposition should perform, he said.

The United States is always against violence, irrespective of which of the sides is held liable. But these are the Ukrainian authorities that should stop law enforcement agencies' operation, announce a truce and start discussions with the opposition to find the way out of the crisis, he said.

Rhodes also said that the United States might introduce sanctions against those responsible for the unrest in Ukraine.

"We have made it clear we would consider taking action against individuals who are responsible for acts of violence within Ukraine. We have a toolkit for doing that that includes sanctions," he said.