World leaders have warned of a "dangerous escalation" in the Ukraine crisis as fatal clashes broke out in the east of the country.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting in New York after at least two people were killed and several injured when pro-Russian fighters seized government buildings in the city of Slavyansk.
Armed men that Western leaders claim are Russian forces have set up checkpoints and barricades in six towns in the area.
Ukraine's new government set a deadline of 7am UK time for pro-Russian forces to put down their weapons and leave occupied buildings. The deadline passed with no sign of movement by separatist forces.
Pro-Russian forces detain a man in eastern Ukraine The UK's ambassador to the UN, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, told the Security Council Sunday's bloodshed was a "dangerous escalation of an already dangerous situation".
He said satellite images show between 35,000 and 40,000 Russian troops are massed near the Ukraine border, in addition to the 25,000 "illegally" in Crimea.
Sir Mark said there are increasing signs of Russian involvement in orchestrating the violence.
Burning tyres at a checkpoint in Slaviansk "We want to use this Security Council meeting to expose that but also warn Russia against using events in eastern Ukraine as a pretext for further military escalation in the region," he said.
Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the meeting he is alarmed by Ukraine's announcement of a "full-scale anti-terror operation" to seize back occupied areas.
He denied Western claims that Moscow is behind the violence, and said Kiev has been using neo-Nazi forces to destabilise its eastern region.
Slavyansk and Kramatorsk are among the latest cities to be hit by unrest "It is the West that will determine the opportunity to avoid civil war in Ukraine," he said.
"Some people, including in this chamber, do not want to see the real reasons for what is happening in Ukraine and are constantly seeing the hand of Moscow in what is going on. Enough. That is enough."
He said Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine are "concerned about their future" and "don't want radicals to impose their will on them".
Pro-Russian protesters detain a man in Luhansk Sky's Hannah Thomas-Peter, outside the UN headquarters, said: "There's more than a little irritation on the part of Western diplomats that Russia, having used its veto position within the Security Council to paralyse that body over any meaningful action on Ukraine, has now decided to call an emergency meeting to put forward its point of view on the escalating crisis in Ukraine.
"But unilaterally America is prepared to act. The US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power has said that sanctions against Russia are already beginning to bite.
"And the White House is willing to tighten those sanctions and to extend them to include sanctions against sectors like the mining sector, financial and energy sectors."
Hundreds of civilians have come out in support of the activists European Union foreign ministers are holding talks later today to discuss how to toughen sanctions against Russia without losing the support of EU governments worried about Moscow switching off the gas to Europe.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement: "The Russian Federation is urged to call back its troops from the Ukrainian border and to cease any further actions aimed at destabilising Ukraine."
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