A top Russian official has warned that Moscow could intervene to help Russian-speaking residents in eastern Ukraine if Ukraine launches an all-out assault on separatists there.
Russian-backed separatist rebels and Ukrainian troops have been clashing in the east of the country.
Russia has also been building up troops on the border with Ukraine.
The official, Dmitry Kozak, said that Russian forces could intervene to "defend" Russian citizens.
"Everything depends on the scale of the conflagration," he said. He is deputy head of Russia's presidential administration.
He also warned that an escalation could mark the "beginning of the end" for Ukraine - "not a shot in the leg, but in the face".
The Ukrainian military says one of its soldiers was killed on Thursday by shooting from the separatists. The rebels used machine-guns, grenades and mortars several times and Ukrainian forces fired back, the military was quoted as saying.
The Ukrainian army commander, Gen Ruslan Khomchak, said "we see the build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine's state border.
"However, this does not mean that our country is being encircled. The situation is under control."
Earlier the rebels said one of their fighters was killed when Ukrainian troops fired mortars at a village on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk.
The United States and Germany have both expressed concern at the increase in tensions.
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