Russia has blamed the Ukrainian authorities for a surge in violence in the southeast of the country.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Ukrainian government is attempting to solve the problem by using force to suppress pro-Russian separatists.
He said this is in turn leading to separatists responding to force with force.
Russian President Vladimir Putin added that the Ukrainian government is refusing a political solution to the violence.
Mr Lavrov also urged the West not to show its support for Ukraine by imposing further sanctions on Russia.
He added that the only way to resolve the conflict is through direct dialogue.
Yesterday President Barack Obama said the United States was considering all options short of military action to isolate Russia.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who oversees sanctions, was in Brussels, where he told a news conference on Monday that Washington has "more tools" to put pressure on Moscow.
The European Union also called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers.
Speaking ahead of that meeting today, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said nobody was blindly set on imposing further sanctions on Russia.
European Council president Donald Tusk denounced "appeasement" of Russia, saying on Twitter that it "encourages the aggressor to greater acts of violence."
The statements come as a Ukrainian military spokesman said seven Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in fighting in the past 24 hours.
A further 24 soldiers were wounded as fighting in eastern Ukraine reached its worst level since a ceasefire was agreed in September.
Over the weekend separatists attacked the city of Mariupol on the Black Sea, the largest city in eastern Ukraine still in government hands.
