More from AFP:
Several columns of heavy armour on Monday headed through rebel-territory to the separatist stronghold of Donetsk in east Ukraine, an AFP journalist said, as fears mounted of a return to all-out fighting.
An AFP journalist saw a total of 21 trucks, six tanks and 14 howitzer cannons driving westwards in the direction of rebel frontline positions.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says that the situation in Ukraine is "serious again" and that all sides, including Russia, must adhere to the terms of a September 5 truce agreement. -- REUTERS
Filling in a bit more on Berlin's warning to Moscow this morning:
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says that the situation in eastern Ukraine is deteriorating and that all sides, including Russia, must adhere to a September 5 truce agreement.
Steinmeier spoke in the Kazakh capital Astana on November 10, a day after the European Union and the United States voiced deep concern over reports of large convoys of troops and military vehicles moving through territory controlled by pro-Russian rebels.
"Unfortunately, the situation is again serious. I now think that we must call upon all those involved in this conflict, as well as the Russian side, to return again to the terms of the Minsk protocol," Steinmeier told a news conference during a visit to Kazakhstan.
Some of the most intense shelling since the cease-fire occurred in the Donetsk province on November 9.