RUSSIA’S President Vladimir Putin said late on Sunday that he believed peace in Ukraine was possible but that neither side was fully honouring a truce struck in September.

He was convinced that it was possible to end the deadlock in east Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels have been battling Kiev’s troops, he said.

But the Russian leader also noted that neither the rebels nor Ukrainian troops had fully withdrawn from key locations to create a buffer zone.

“There are certain settlements that the armed rebel formations should abandon and they are not being abandoned,” he said. 

But he blamed Kiev for not holding up its end of the agreement and setting a bad example.

And he lashed out against far-right nationalist elements.

“I’ll say this bluntly — we’re very concerned that the desire could arise to use ethnic cleansing. 

“We’re afraid about a drift toward neonazism,” he said.