Friday 25 April 2014 16.27 Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk has said Russia wanted to start a third World War by occupying Ukraine "militarily and politically".
He also warned of a conflict that could spread to the rest of Europe.
"Attempts at military conflict in Ukraine will lead to a military conflict in Europe," Mr Yatsenyuk told the interim cabinet in remarks broadcast live.
"The world has not yet forgotten World War II, but Russia already wants to start World War III."
An aide to interim president Oleksander Turchynov said any incursion by Russian forces across the border will be regarded as an invasion and the attackers will be killed.
"We will consider any crossing of the Ukrainian border by Russian troops into the territory of Donetsk or any other region as a military invasion and we will destroy the attackers," Mr Turchynov's chief-of-staff Serhiy Pashynsky was quoted as saying by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
"We do not accept false declarations about humanitarian action," he said.
A Ukrainian military helicopter exploded at a base near the eastern town of Kramatorsk after being hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, officials in Kiev said.
The Mi-8 helicopter was struck as it was on the tarmac of the base's landing zone. Its pilot managed to escape but was wounded, they said.
The nearby town of Kramatorsk is one of several under the control of pro-Kremlin gunmen.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian special forces have begun the second phase of their operation in the east of the country by mounting a full blockade of Slaviansk, an official on the presidential staff said.
"The operation will continue. Its goal is to blockade the terrorists in Slaviansk and not allow casualties among civilians," the official said.
Leaders discuss further sanctions
World leaders have discussed imposing further sanctions on Russia in response to its latest actions.
The White House said this afternoon that the US is prepared to impose targeted sanctions.
It said the US, French, German and Italian leaders had agreed to work together to "coordinate additional steps to impose costs on Russia".
The leaders agreed that Russia had escalated tension in eastern Ukraine, but said "Russia could still choose a peaceful resolution to the crisis".
Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin that she is gravely concerned about eastern Ukraine.
In a phone call to Mr Putin, the chancellor said she expected Russia to honour the agreement reached in Geneva and urged pro-Russian militia to disarm.
Ms Merkel told Mr Putin that Ukraine has taken many steps to implement the accord, but she has seen few steps from Russia.
She said they must contemplate further sanctions against Russia due to a lack of progress.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said Russia's refusal to support the Geneva agreement means an extension of the current targeted sanctions would need to be implemented.
Kerry warning for Russia
In a sign of growing US concern about Ukraine, Secretary of State John Kerry last night issued what amounted to a warning to Russia not to invade.
Russia has about 40,000 troops on its border with Ukraine, some of which staged military exercises yesterday.
Mr Kerry said: "Following today's threatening movement of Russian troops right up to Ukraine's border, let me be clear.
"If Russia continues in this direction, it will not just be a grave mistake, it will be an expensive mistake."
The US accuses Russia of backing separatists in eastern Ukraine as part of a deliberate attempt to destabilise the region, undermine elections planned for next month, and gain greater influence.
Russia seized and annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine last month after President Putin overturned decades of post-Cold War diplomacy by announcing the right to use military force in neighbouring countries.
Under the accord struck by Russia, Ukraine, the US and EU in Geneva last week, illegal armed groups are supposed to disarm and go home, including rebels occupying about a dozen buildings in the largely Russian-speaking east.
The rebels have shown no sign of retreating.
ICC to open initial probe on Ukraine
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has opened a initial inquiry into crimes committed before and during the fall of Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych.
"The prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, has decided to open a preliminary investigation into the situation in the Ukraine to establish whether ... the criteria for opening a (full) investigation are met," The Hague-based court said in a statement.
"The prosecutor shall consider issues of jurisdiction, admissibility and the interests of justice," before deciding on a full investigation, the ICC added, saying the initial investigation was opened "as a matter of policy".
"If there was a reasonable basis for an investigation, it is then up to her (Bensouda) to ask the court's judges for authorisation," said ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah.
Ukraine earlier this month accepted ICC jurisdiction to investigate alleged crimes committed between 21 November, when pro-EU demonstrations erupted in Kiev, and 22 February, when Mr Yanukovych was ousted.
Ukraine has not signed up to the ICC's founding Rome Statute, but can ask for an inquiry to be opened.
Its parliament called in February for the ICC to prosecute Mr Yanukovych for the "mass murder" of protesters in Kiev calling on him to stand down, a crisis that has sparked the current Ukraine-Russia standoff.
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