Putin with Angela Merkel at the breakfast meeting

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman on Friday accused some leaders of refusing to accept “reality” in Ukraine, after key talks between the Kremlin strongman and his Ukrainian counterpart alongside European leaders.

“Unfortunately, some participants of (the Milan) breakfast demonstrated complete unwillingness to understand the reality in southeastern Ukraine,” the state RIA Novosti news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying in Milan.

Peskov did not elaborate, but said that the talks over the Ukraine crisis were tough.

“Indeed the talks are difficult, there are plenty of disagreements, plenty of incomprehension,” Peskov was quoted as saying. “But at the sime time they are going on, there is an exchange of opinion.”

His comments contrasted sharply with those by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who said he was “really positive” after the talks on the sidelines of a summit in Milan.

The meeting also included British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and EU leaders Jose Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy.

The Kremlin said that an earlier meeting between Putin and Merkel on the sidelines of the summit also demonstrated “serious differences concerning the origin of Ukraine’s internal conflict.”