Putin has ordered the army of Ukraine to depose Kyiv’s leadership.

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the Ukrainian army to remove the government, describing its leaders as “terrorists” and “a band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”

Putin also accused “Ukrainian nationalists” of installing heavy weaponry in residential areas of major cities in order to provoke the Russian military, a remark that might stoke worries that Moscow is fabricating pretexts to excuse civilian deaths.

In a televised address to the Ukrainian military, he encouraged them to “take power into your own hands.”

Putin has ordered the army of Ukraine to depose Kyiv’s leadership.

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the Ukrainian army to remove the government, describing its leaders as “terrorists” and “a band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis.”

Putin also accused “Ukrainian nationalists” of installing heavy weaponry in residential areas of major cities in order to provoke the Russian military, a remark that might stoke worries that Moscow is fabricating pretexts to excuse civilian deaths.

In a televised address to the Ukrainian military, he encouraged them to “take power into your own hands.”