Putin: Ukraine conducting punitive operation in east

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday branded Ukraine's attempt to crush a Moscow-backed separatist uprising in the east of the country a "punitive operation."
"It is indeed a punitive operation. But it is being conducted by the current Kiev authorities," Putin told his annual end-of-the-year news conference, side-stepping a question from a Ukrainian journalist.
The reporter from Ukraine's UNIAN news agency had accused Putin of conducting a punitive operation in the east of Ukraine and asked how many regular troops the Russian president had sent in to prop up the separatist insurgency there.