Russian President Vladimir Putin has used the commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz to press the Russian points on Ukraine.

Putin, who was absent from today's commemorations in Poland because of a deep strain between Russia and the West over Ukraine, visited the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow where he talked about Ukrainian nationalists' collaboration with the Nazis in killing Jews during World War II.

Mr Putin also used the anniversary to accuse the Ukrainian authorities of "killing civilian population in Donetsk and Luhansk in cold blood".

Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine has left more than 5,100 people dead since April.

Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of backing the rebels with troops and weapons - charges it denies.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.