"The events occuring in the past few days confirm the most serious concerns. Unfortunately, we are witnessing the escalation of military actions, the increase in shelling and number of casualties, a new destruction," Karasin told RIA Novosti.
According to officials from the self-procalimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, there are no signs progress in peaceful reconciliation in eastern Ukraine, with 57 instances of shelling by Kiev led forces in the last 24 hours in violation of the ceasefire.
Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree authorizing a three-stage military mobilization in 2015, which would add a total of 104,000 soldiers to the country’s army.
Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian president's press service said Ukraine is reinforcing its military presence in the "hot spots" in the country's east.
Amid the rapid increase in violence in Donbas, earlier this week Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Ukrainian authorities against returning to the use of "forcible scenarios" in resolving the country's crisis and stressed the importance of reconciliation talks. However, on Friday Kiev envoys did not arrive at a scheduled Contact Group meeting in Minsk.
