Ukraine tensions: Putin accuses US of using Ukraine as tool against Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the US of seeking to use Ukraine as a tool to constrain Russia and not caring about Ukraine's actual interests.

Saying the US had ignored Russian concerns, he again attacked the idea of Ukraine joining the Nato security bloc.

What, he asked, would happen if Ukraine was allowed to join Nato and then tried to take Crimea back from Russia.

Tension is high over a Russian troop build-up close to Ukraine's borders.

Russia denies Western accusations that it is planning an invasion, nearly eight years after the annexation of Crimea and a bloody rebellion in Ukraine's eastern regions.

Moscow in turn accuses the Ukrainian government of failing to implement an international deal to restore peace to the eastern regions, where at least 14,000 people have been killed and Russian-backed rebels control swathes of territory.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow on Tuesday, Mr Putin said: "It seems to me that the United States is not so much concerned about the security of Ukraine... but its main task is to contain Russia's development. In this sense Ukraine itself is just a tool to reach this goal."

The US, he said, had ignored Moscow's concerns in its response to Russian demands for legally binding security guarantees, including a block on Nato's further expansion to the east.

"Imagine that Ukraine is a Nato member and a military operation [to regain Crimea] begins," the Russian leader said. "What - are we going to fight with Nato? Has anyone thought about this? It seems like they haven't."

On Tuesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on a visit to Ukraine that a Russian invasion would lead to a military and humanitarian disaster.