The Ukrainian military said two soldiers were killed and four wounded in shelling by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine on Saturday as leaders of two breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine ordered general mobilization.
The Ukrainian military said on its Facebook page it had recorded 70 ceasefire violations by separatists since the start of the day compared with 66 cases over the previous 24 hours.
Separatists opened fire on more than 30 settlements along the front line using heavy artillery, which has been prohibited by agreements aimed at cooling the long-running conflict, the military said.
A group of lawmakers and foreign media visiting the conflict zone came under fire and had to be evacuated to a shelter, a spokesperson for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's party said in a separate statement on Saturday.
Separatist officials accused Ukraine on social media site Telegram of shelling separatist-controlled areas and said they had to respond accordingly.
Incidents of shelling across the line dividing government forces and separatists increased sharply this week, in what the Ukrainian government called a provocation.
A man says goodbye to his daughter through a bus window during the evacuation of local residents to Russia, in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk on February 19, 2022 after leaders from two separatist territories ordered civilians to cross the border into Russia ReutersMeanwhile, leaders of Ukraine's two breakaway regions announced a general mobilization on Saturday, spurring fears of a further escalation in fighting in the ex-Soviet country.
"I urge my fellow citizens who are in the reserves to come to military conscription offices. Today I signed a decree on general mobilization," Denis Pushilin, the leader of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, said in a video statement.
On Friday, the authorities in eastern Ukraine on Friday said they planned to evacuate their breakaway region's residents to Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that his country was a "shield" against Russia and deserved more support in the face of a feared Russian invasion.
In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskiy condemned "a policy of appeasement" towards Moscow. He also proposed a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at averting an invasion by Russia of Ukraine.
Nuclear drills
Meanwhile on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a dramatic military exercise, hours after the United States again warned that it believes Moscow plans to invade Ukraine within days.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meanwhile arrived in Germany to shore up support among Western allies, despite a significant increase in shelling in the country's east in which a Ukrainian soldier was killed.
The fierce US warnings and the evacuation of civilians from Russian-backed rebel regions in Ukraine have brought fears of a major conflict in Europe to their highest level after weeks of tensions.
The Kremlin insists it has no plans to attack its neighbour, which has angered Moscow by seeking closer ties with Nato and the European Union.
But Moscow is doing nothing to reduce fears, with state media accusing Kiev of plotting an assault on the rebel-held pro-Russia enclave in eastern Ukraine.
Russian television showed images of Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko sitting at a round table in the Kremlin situation room, in front of a bank of screens showing military commanders as they test-fired their latest hypersonic, cruise and nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had made a reference to nuclear launch codes.
'Poised to strike'
Russia's defence ministry said the exercise involved nearly all branches of the armed forces, including its strategic rocket forces, as well the Northern and Black Sea fleets, which have nuclear-armed submarines.
The United States insists that, with some 150,000 Russian troops on Ukraine's borders -- as many as 190,000, when including the Russian-backed separatist forces in the east -- Moscow has already made up its mind to invade.
Some of the Russian forces, around 30,000 troops, are in Belarus for an exercise which is due to end on Sunday. Moscow has said that these forces will return to barracks, but US intelligence is concerned that they could take part in an invasion of Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden said on Friday that he was sure Putin had made the call to invade, regardless of warnings that it would trigger huge Western sanctions, and the attack could come in the next days with targets that would include the capital Kiev.
On Saturday, visiting Nato ally Lithuania, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Russian forces "are now poised to strike" and "moving into the right kinds of positions to be able to conduct an attack."
Germany's foreign ministry said on Saturday that German citizens were "urgently requested to leave (Ukraine) now," as fears mounted that Russia could invade its neighbour in the coming days.
Russia has announced a series of withdrawals of its forces from near Ukraine in recent days, saying they were taking part in regular military exercises and accusing the West of "hysteria" with claims of an invasion plan.
But Putin has also stepped up his rhetoric, demanding written guarantees that Ukraine will never be allowed to join Nato and that the US-led military alliance roll back deployments in eastern Europe to positions from decades ago.