Moscow (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin told United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Moscow on Tuesday that he still had "hope" in talks with Ukraine to end the war between the two countries.

"Despite the fact that the military operation continues, we still hope that we will be able to reach a positive result" from the negotiations, Putin added to Guterres.

Putin made it clear, as he sat opposite Guterres at a long table in the Kremlin, that efforts in talks with Ukraine had faltered due to accusations leveled by Kiev against his forces of committing atrocities in the town of Bucha, near Kiev.

He continued, "There was a provocation in the village of Bucha that the Russian army had nothing to do with. We know who was behind this provocation, by what means and what kind of people participated in it."

Putin told Guterres that he understood his concerns "about the Russian military operation" in Ukraine and was ready to discuss it, but he attributed the unrest in his neighbor to an "anti-state coup" that overthrew its pro-Russian president in 2014.

For his part, Guterres renewed his call on both Moscow and Kiev to work together with the United Nations to establish humanitarian corridors in Ukraine to deliver aid and evacuate civilians.