BBC's Frank Gardner

Putin sees the problem as Ukraine being lured into the West. He doesn't want Ukraine joining the EU or NATO or looking westwards. He wants it back in Moscow's sphere of influence. So I'm not optimistic that that is going to work.

Putin sees the problem as Ukraine being lured into the West. He doesn't want Ukraine joining the EU or NATO or looking westwards. He wants it back in Moscow's sphere of influence. So I'm not optimistic that that is going to work.

The Kremlin is very good at muddying the waters like this because they've not agreed to this 30-day ceasefire that everyone here was demanding. And instead, President Putin said, let's address the root causes of this conflict. Now, Russia's idea of the root causes of this conflict are very different from the West's idea of the root causes.

The Kremlin is very good at muddying the waters like this because they've not agreed to this 30-day ceasefire that everyone here was demanding. And instead, President Putin said, let's address the root causes of this conflict. Now, Russia's idea of the root causes of this conflict are very different from the West's idea of the root causes.