Russia warns new Donbass conflict could 'destroy' Ukraine, NATO rebukes Moscow

Russia warned on April 1 that a serious escalation in the conflict in Donbass could "destroy" Ukraine as NATO voiced concern over what it said was a big Russian military build-up near eastern Ukraine.

Unverified social media footage has suggested Russia has been moving large quantities of tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other equipment to regions that border Ukraine as well as to Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Russian activity poses an early challenge to U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, which this week held phone calls with senior Ukrainian officials in a public show of support for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government.

"Partly, it is the usual tactics, turning up and down the conflict to create instability, to show that Russia is a key player," said one EU diplomat. "We cannot exclude that Biden's presidency is part of the Russian calculus, that it's time for Moscow to show a bit of muscle."

Moscow and Kyiv have long accused each other of failing to implement a peace deal over Donbass. Relations are further strained by the fate of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany, which Kyiv and Washington want to halt, and by a crackdown in Ukraine on a prominent businessman close to Russia.

NATO said it was concerned about the Russian military build-up as NATO ambassadors met to discuss a recent spike in violence in the eastern Donbass region, where Ukrainian troops have battled Russian-backed separatist forces in a conflict Kyiv estimates has killed 14,000 people since 2014.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Taran, and "condemned recent escalations of Russian aggressive and provocative actions in eastern Ukraine," the Pentagon said.