As you probably know, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been giving his annual marathon presser in Moscow. Not surprisingly, he's had a few things to say about Ukraine:
Here's how our news desk is reporting Putin's Ukraine comments:
Repeating long-standing Russian positions on the conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 10,300 people, Putin said the effectiveness of the 2015 Minsk peace accord has been "low" and blamed Kyiv, asserting that the Ukrainian government is dragging its feet on several aspects of implementation including prisoner exchanges and legislation.
He repeated the claim that the "primary cause" of events in Ukraine since 2014, when Moscow seized the Crimean Peninsula and threw its backing behind separatists in the east, was what he called a "coup d'etat" in Kyiv that February.
Ukraine and Western countries reject that narrative, saying that Russia unleashed aggression after Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned power and fled amid massive protests that erupted following his decision to scrap plans for a pact with the European Union.
You can read the entire report here.