RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin claimed peace talks with Ukraine were at a “dead end” today, blaming what he said were “fake claims” by Kiev about war crimes.

A Ukrainian presidential spokesman said talks were ongoing, however.

The Russian leader spoke at a space centre in the country’s far east a day after the neonazi Azov Battalion, fighting in the besiged city of Mariupol, claimed its troops had been hit by a Russian chemical weapons attack.