BREAKING NEWS

Putin: Situation in Ukraine is civil war

ST. PETERSBURG - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he believed Ukraine had collapsed into civil war.

Reiterating comments by other Russian leaders, he told businessmen at a conference in the city of St. Petersburg that there had been chaos since pro-Moscow President Vladimir Yanukovich was forced out of office in Ukraine in February.

The chaos, he said, had given way to civil war.