From the German news agency dpa:
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused Ukraine of lacking political will to solve the bloody conflict with pro-Russian separatists - just hours after he pleaded for new peace talks.
"We do not see a desire of our partners in Kiev to solve the problem of its relations with the south-east of Ukraine by a peaceful political process," Putin told a conference of international Russia experts in Sochi that was broadcast on television.
The Russian leader warned that any attempt of a forceful solution
will create an impasse. If Ukraine wants to retain its territorial
integrity, it needs to end the war immediately, he said.
Putin has claimed that Crimea being annexed to Russia does not mean that it disrespects Ukraine's sovereignty. "As a result of a government coup supported by our Western partners, the people of Crimea got scared and decided to take care of the future, their own and of their children as well, and used the right to self-determination international law provides for," he said at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, according to Tass. "That does not mean that we disrespect the sovereignty of the Ukrainian state on the whole."
Putin has responded to a quote attributed to First Deputy Head of The Presidential Administration Vyacheslav Volodin, "If there's Putin, there's Russia, if there's no Putin, there is no Russia."
Putin said, "Russia fills my whole life and I can't imagine myself without it for a second," according to Tass. "I feel an inner connection with the Russian land and the Russian people and I wouldn't be able to live outside of Russia."
"Russia, of course, can do without someone like me," he said, according to Dozhd.
Ukraine's Prime Minister has said that Russia's falling economy could harm Ukraine. It is clear that with the [ruble] falling, the Russians will try to sell their goods in Ukraine because there are competitive advantages," said Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Friday.
"I will not hide, that we helped Yaunkovych move to Crimea," Putin said, according to "Ukrainskaya Pravda."