The U.S. and British governments have warned Russia against any further intervention in Ukraine, including under the pretext of delivering humanitarian assistance.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said on August 9 that any such intervention would be "completely unacceptable” and "viewed as an invasion of Ukraine."
Noting that Russia floated the idea again last week of sending Russian peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine, Power also said the humanitarian situation there “needs addressing, but not by those who have caused it."
She was speaking at a UN Security Council meeting in New York focusing on the human rights situation in eastern Ukraine.
Britain's UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant accused Russia of continuing "recklessly to fuel the conflict" by building up its forces on the border.
“And now, we hear that Russia is ready to intervene on humanitarian grounds to alleviate the suffering that it has manufactured," he added.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond “strongly” urged Moscow to avoid any provocative actions."
He said a Russian humanitarian intervention in Ukraine would be “unjustified and illegal."
In New York, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin called for an immediate end to military action in eastern Ukraine and criticized the latest UN report on the human rights situation in the country for being one-side.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to the parties "to redouble their efforts" to end the conflict.
Earlier on August 8, the Russian Defense Ministry said it has finished military exercises in southern Russia which the United States has criticized as a "provocative" step amid the Ukraine crisis.
NATO says Russia has massed 20,000 troops near the border with Ukraine, where government troops are fighting pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.