Ukraine on Friday called on the international community to condemn what it said were provocations by Russia in separatist-held eastern Ukrainian areas, saying that Moscow would only escalate the situation further if it did not.
The Ukrainian government has strongly denied suggestions by Russia that it could launch an offensive in eastern Ukraine, where residents from two self-proclaimed republics received were ordered to evacuate.
"...we are watching the Russian Federation launch a campaign to spread mass disinformation, increase shelling of Ukrainian positions and civilian infrastructure with weapons banned by the Minsk agreements, and escalate the security situation," the foreign ministry's spokesman said in a statement.
"Lack of a proper reaction or a neutral position will only fuel the escalation of the situation by Russia."
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Maria Tsvetkova; writing by Matthias Williams; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
