Kiev on Tuesday showed off two purported Russian soldiers it captured during a gun battle with separatist fighters in the industrial east of the war-wrecked state.

The two wounded men were being treated in a Kiev military clinic. One of them shielded his face while speaking briefly to reporters from his hospital bed. The other man refused to answer a question about whether he was an active member of the Russian armed forces.

Moscow on Monday said the two had previously served in the Russian military but had since been demobilised.