Live Updates: Moscow Urges West to Stop Arming Kiev Following Ukraine' Strike at Kramatorsk

She also opposed the embargo on Russian gas, oil and coal.

"I am against everything that will result in increased payments for the French. My priority is the French and their purchasing power," Le Pen said.

In addition, the presidential candidate noted that France must prevent Russia, the largest country in the world, from rapprochement with China, the most populous country in the world, since this would be a serious problem for Paris.

Restrictions on imports of Russian oil and gas are expected to be discussed in the EU later in April.

The first round of the presidential election in France will be held on Sunday and the second round is scheduled for 24 April. Besides Le Pen, 11 other candidates announced their bids, including incumbent President Emmanuel Macron. Macron and Le Pen are considered the frontrunners.

The city of Kramatorsk in Kiev-controlled DPR territory was attacked by the same Ukrainian military brigade that fired missiles at the centre of Donetsk in mid-March, DPR People's Militia spokesman Eduard Basurin said.

"This is the same brigade that fired then at Donetsk, along Universitetskaya [Street]. The launch was north of Krasnoarmeysk, in principle, the same area," Basurin said on the air of the Rossiya 1 broadcaster.

According to Basurin, the current provocation is aimed at forcing Russia to sign a peace agreement.

The Ukrainian military involved in the provocation in Kramatorsk will answer for it, Basurin said.

Kiev will not be able to evade responsibility for the Tochka-U tactical missile attack on Kramatorsk, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"We are confident that the Kiev authorities will not be able to evade responsibility," the ministry said.

"There is evidence of the guilt of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — it is they who are armed and use the Tochka-U missiles, the fragments of which were found at the site of the tragedy," it said.

"Such inhuman actions of the Kiev regime confirm the validity of the tasks of the special military operation to demilitarise and denazify Ukraine," the ministry stressed.

In connection with the strike of Ukrainian troops on Kramatorsk, Moscow calls for a halt in the supply of weapons to Kiev.

"We call on the international community to give an impartial assessment of the crimes of Ukrainian formations, to stop supplying them with weapons and to encourage Kiev to abandon unacceptable methods of warfare," the ministry said.

The United States has added Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland to the list of excluded countries from certain export controls imposed on Russia, a document in the US Federal Register revealed on Friday.

“To recognize partner countries implementing substantially similar export controls on Russia and Belarus, the Department of Commerce published a list of countries excluded from certain US export controls related to foreign-produced items. In this rule, the Department of Commerce adds Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland to the list of excluded countries,” the document, scheduled to be published on 12 April, said.

The German Chancellor also said that his country's strategy is to inflict dramatic costs on Russia.

The United Kingdom will send Ukraine 100 million pounds ($130 million) worth military equipment to Ukraine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday.

"Today, I can announce that the UK will send further 100 million pounds’ worth high-grade military equipment to Ukraine's armed forces, including more Starstreak anti-aircraft missiles which fly 3 times the speed of sound and another 800 anti-tank missiles and precision munitions capable of lingering in the sky until directed to their target," Johnson told a press conference following his meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Russia is expelling 45 employees of the Polish diplomatic mission as a response to the actions of Warsaw, they must leave the country by the end of 13 April, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"On April 8, the Polish Ambassador to Moscow, Krzysztof Krajewski, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. A strong protest was expressed to him over the unjustified declaration of 45 employees of Russian foreign missions in the Republic of Poland personae non gratae on March 23 of this year," the ministry said.

The ambassador was told that Moscow regarded such a move as confirmation of Warsaw's conscious desire to finally destroy bilateral relations, and the responsibility for this lies entirely with the Polish side.

"As a response to Poland's unfriendly actions to expel Russian diplomats, based on the principle of reciprocity, 45 employees of the embassy of the Republic of Poland and the consulates general of the Republic of Poland in Irkutsk, Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg have been declared personae non gratae. They must leave the territory of the Russian Federation before the end of the day on April 13. The corresponding note was handed over to the Ambassador of Poland in Russia," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.