‘Yes, Putin is a dickhead’, says Ukraine minister

Senior Russian parliamentarians urged Ukraine to sack its foreign minister for calling President Vladimir Putin a "dickhead" during a violent protest outside Russia’s embassy in Kiev.

Acting foreign minister Andriy Deshchytsia tried to persuade protesters not to use violence at the rally on Saturday evening, during which the Russian flag was ripped up, vehicles overturned and stones and eggs thrown.

“We must fulfill our international obligations, including defending the right of Russia to have an embassy in Ukraine,” he told protesters, angered by pro-Russian separatists shooting down a military cargo plane in east Ukraine, killing 49.