In eastern Ukraine, the situation does not seem to calm down after a new attempt at a ceasefire.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reported on Saturday night of more than 200 violations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

This information is based on observations made on Thursday.

The parties to the conflict had previously agreed to return to a ceasefire that had been agreed a year and a half ago.

The Ukrainian army announced on Saturday morning that the opposing side had violated the agreement five times the day before.

A soldier was injured.

This information could not be verified independently at first.

Shortly before Christmas, Germany and France as mediators called for the ceasefire to be “fully observed”.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has been going on since 2014. According to United Nations estimates, more than 13,000 people have died there so far.

Reports of alleged Russian preparations for an invasion of Ukraine have been causing international concern for weeks.

Russia had rejected that.

According to the Interfax agency, the Russian military reported on Saturday that more than 1,000 soldiers with tanks and helicopters had held a maneuver near Voronezh on the border with Ukraine.

However, the soldiers were withdrawn again.

An important security advisor to the Ukrainian president has assessed the risk of an imminent Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine as low.

The government in Kiev has not yet identified a "critical increase" in the number of Russian troops at the joint border, the head of the Ukrainian Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, told the AFP news agency on Friday.

Kiev estimates that the number of Russian soldiers has increased from around 93,000 in October to 104,000.

"We do not see any critical increase in this," affirmed Danilov.

However, he emphasized: "For us the threat is every day, no matter how many troops Moscow may deploy".

He warned Moscow that if attacked, all Ukrainian society would resist.

Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to "destroy" Ukraine and restore the "USSR", the Soviet Union, said the adviser to the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelenskyj.

In his opinion, the Kremlin is currently trying mainly to “destabilize” Ukraine from within through “cyber attacks” and an “energy crisis”.

Ukraine is heavily dependent on Russian gas supplies.

If this scenario fails, Russia will "use other means, including military ones," said Danilov.

"They want to tear our country apart so that it no longer exists within its current borders."

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been worsening for weeks.

Since mid-November, Kiev and western governments have accused Russia of having drawn tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with Ukraine.

A possible invasion of the Russian army into the neighboring country is feared.

Moscow denies any plans to attack and, for its part, accuses Ukraine of provocations.

War between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian army has been raging in eastern Ukraine since 2014.

Ukraine and western states accuse Moscow of providing military support to the rebels, which the Kremlin denies.

Danilov is the former mayor of the city of Luhansk, which is located in the rebel area.