MOSCOW, July 02. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday blamed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for deaths of people in Ukraine’s embattled Southeast and warned that it will be hard for Moscow to develop relations with Kiev in the current conditions.

“By breaking the ceasefire President Poroshenko made a dramatic mistake. It will bring new casualties. And he is personally responsible for them,” he said in the “five short comments on the situation in Ukraine” posted on social networks on Wednesday, July 2.

He said the Association Agreement with the European Union was Ukraine’s right, but “Russia’s right is to move on to new terms of work with it (with Ukraine)”. “We have to protect our market. The decision on protective measures will be made after consultations. The government of Russia is studying the current situation and also working on our steps under the CIS Free Trade Area and the WTO rules,” the prime minister said.

He said Ukraine was not paying for Russian gas, its debt had reached enormous proportions and a new gas crisis would most likely break out by autumn.

Medvedev also recalled the US State Department’s comments that people are fleeing the south-east of Ukraine because they want to meet with the relatives in Russia. “An enormous flow of refugees: tens of thousands. People are fleeing the war. American propaganda claims that they are coming here to spend free time at their grandmas’. Cynicism knows no bounds,” he said.