Ukraine warns of ‘full-scale Russian invasion’

KIEV: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday he could not rule out a full-scale Russian invasion after the military reported the worst violence in the pro-Moscow separatist east for a year.

Military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said insurgent attacks had doubled from the previous day as tensions between Kiev and Moscow soared over Kremlin charges last week that Ukraine plotted to stage armed incursions into Russian-annexed Crimea.

"The last time we witnessed a similar intensity of fire using heavy armaments was a year ago," he told reporters in Kiev.

Poroshenko responded to the violence by sending his top army commander into the conflict zone, and warned that he could "not exclude a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine along all fronts".

"The likelihood of the conflict’s escalation remains very high," the Ukrainian leader said in televised remarks from the western city of Lviv.

Poroshenko added that a further escalation may force him to introduce "martial law and a mobilisation" of reserve forces.