Troops massing along Ukraine’s eastern border

MOSCOW — The Kremlin said Friday it fears a resumption of full-scale fighting in eastern Ukraine and could take steps to protect Russian civilians there, a stark warning that comes amid a Russian troop buildup along the border.

The statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, reflected the Kremlin’s determination to prevent Ukraine from using force to try to retake control over separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military chief dismissed the Russian claims that the country’s armed forces are preparing for an attack on the rebel east.

Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists have been fighting in eastern Ukraine since shortly after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. More than 14,000 people have died in the conflict, and efforts to negotiate a political settlement have stalled.

Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of sending in troops and weapons to help separatists, accusations that Moscow has denied. The White House says that Russia now has more troops on its border with Ukraine than at any time since 2014.

Russia also claimed that it had to protect Russianspeakers in Crimea when it sent troops into the Black Sea peninsula and then annexed it in March 2014 following a hastily called public vote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday after visiting troops in the east that 26 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed so far this year. Increasingly frequent breaches of a July truce agreement mean that “we again face the need to establish a cease-fire,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.

The separatist authorities in Donetsk said 20 troops and two civilians had been killed this year.

Western and Ukrainian officials have raised concerns in recent weeks about increasingly frequent ceasefire violations in the country’s industrial heartland, known as the Donbas. They also expressed worries about the Russian troop build-up along the border with Ukraine.

During a call with Mr. Putin on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for the

Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the war-hit Donbas region, eastern Ukraine, on Friday amid an escalation of tensions that has raised fears of a resumption of large-scale hostilities.