Artillery fire has killed at least four people in a residential area in eastern Ukraine, spurring more people to flee the besieged city of Donetsk and its suburbs.

Nato’s top military commander said Russia had a large force on Ukraine’s eastern border and that he was worried it could pose a threat to Moldova’s separatist Transdniestria region.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned today he would respond to the increased number of Nato ships in the Black Sea in the aftermath of the war with Georgia.

A deal between Russia and Belarus on an oil pipeline was “very close” and supplies should be restored in the near future, EU energy chief Andris Piebalgs said today after meeting a senior Russian official.