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United States Secretary of State John Kerry rides a boat through the Mekong River Delta December 15, 2013. It was the first time Kerry has returned to the Mekong River Delta since he commanded a swift patrol boat during the Vietnam War and he used the visit to highlight the threat from climate change and upstream development on the livelihoods of millions of fisherman and farmers. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry blamed Russia for blocking the prospect of peace in Ukraine. Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk claimed that it was “crystal clear” that the Russian military was on Ukrainian grounds.

Kerry visited Ukraine on Thursday while State Department officials claimed that there was a serious escalation in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Both sides have been blaming each other for shelling civilian regions. Kerry did not hesitate to share his views while accusing Russia and the separatists of refusing Ukraine’s rights as a sovereign nation.

"Let there be no doubt about who is blocking the prospect of peace here,” CNN quotes Kerry, “Russia, with impunity, seemingly, has acted to cross that border at will with weapons, with personnel, with the instruments of death that they are bringing into Ukraine."

Kerry asked Russia to do three things to make sure there is a diplomatic solution to the existing problems. He asked Russia to pull back heavy weapons beyond the range of civilian populations, remove foreign troops and heavy equipment from Ukraine and close the Russia-Ukraine border.

With Kerry standing beside him, Yatsenyuk refused to accept that Ukraine was fighting “so-called rebels or guerrillas.” He said that it was the Russian army, which his country had been fighting with. He also said that Russian leaders must be blind to deny that their army had crossed the border.

Russia’s Sputnik news agency, meanwhile, quotes U.S. Senator John McCain who has partially blamed the United States for Ukraine’s indiscriminate use of cluster bombs. McCain has said that the U.S. failed to send other arms to Kiev. If the United States could provide the proper arms, he said that Ukraine would not have used cluster bombs. Sputnik also adds that, according to the United Nations’ November report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, the use of cluster bombs in eastern Ukraine may be considered a war crime.

In the meantime, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande also visited Ukraine on Thursday and met with President Petro Poroshenko. They are scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for a diplomatic push for peace in the region.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au