Putin: responsibility for south-east Ukraine escalation rests with those who issue "criminal orders"

Responsibility for the latest escalation of tensions in south-eastern Ukraine rests with those who issue "criminal orders" to use artillery weapons and combat aircraft against residential areas, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

"Both artillery weapons, multiple-launch rocket systems and combat aircraft have been used indiscriminately and directly against densely populated districts. All this is being accompanied by propagandist slogans about one's commitment to peace and being disguised by a search for those responsible. But responsibility rests with those who issue such criminal orders," Putin said at a meeting with the permanent members of Russia's Security Council on Friday.

Moscow forwarded a proposal to Kyiv concerning the withdrawal of weapons and heavy military hardware from the line of contact, which the Kyiv authorities themselves have described as fair and in compliance with the September 19, 2014 Minsk agreements, the president said.

However, no response to this initiative was received, Putin said. Rather, large-scale fighting was unleashed, he said.

"As a result, there are dozens of killed and injured people, both among servicemen of both sides and, what is even more tragic, among the civilian population - children, elderly people and women," Putin said.

Those who give such orders "should realize that there are no ways to resolve such conflicts other than through peace talks and political methods," the Russian president said.

"We often hear, including from today's authorities in Kyiv, that this country is committed to exactly such methods of settlement, but it is the other way round in practice. I hope that common sense will eventually prevail," he said.