Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan visited Kiev at the weekend, the White House said Monday, amid US ire over the storming of official buildings in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian gunmen.

Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan visited Kiev at the weekend, the White House said Monday, amid US ire over the storming of official buildings in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian gunmen.

"We can confirm that the director was in Kiev this weekend," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Brennan's visit was part of a routine trip to Europe, and any claims that it was anything other than that by Russia were "absurd," he added.