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		</div><p>Top Ukrainian military officials came under a shelling attack during a tour of the front of the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.</p>
<p>The officials fled to a bomb shelter before leaving the area, according to a journalist from The Associated Press who was on the tour.</p>
<p>Earlier Saturday, separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilisation, amid a spike of violence in the war-torn region and fears in the West that Russia might it as a pretext for an invasion.</p>
<p>Ukraine and the two regions held by the Russia-backed rebels each accused the other of escalation.</p>
<p>Russia on Saturday said at least two shells fired from a government-held part of eastern Ukraine landed across the border.</p>
<p>Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba dismissed the claim as “a fake statement”.</p>
<p>Ukraine’s military said shelling killed a soldier early Saturday in the government-held part of the Donetsk region and that separatist forces were placing artillery in residential areas to try to provoke a response.</p>
<p>On Friday, the rebels began evacuating civilians to Russia with an announcement that appeared to be part of their and Moscow’s efforts to paint Ukraine as the aggressor.</p>
<p>Denis Pushilin, head of the pro-Russian separatist government in the Donetsk region, released a statement on Saturday announcing a full troop mobilisation and urging reservists to show up at military enlistment offices.</p>
<p>A similar announcement quickly followed from Leonid Pasechnik, separatist leader in the Luhansk region.</p>
<p>Mr Pushilin cited an “immediate threat of aggression” from Ukrainian forces, accusations that Ukrainian officials vehemently denied earlier.</p>
<p>He said: “I appeal to all the men in the republic who can hold weapons to defend their families, their children, wives, mothers. Together we will achieve the coveted victory that we all need.”</p>
<p>The announcement came as a mass evacuation of women, children and the elderly from the rebel-held territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to neighbouring Russia got under way.</p>
<p>US president Joe Biden said on Friday he is now “convinced” his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has decided to invade Ukraine and assault the capital, Kyiv.</p>
<p>After weeks of saying the US was not sure if Mr Putin had made the final decision, Mr Biden said that his judgment had changed, citing American intelligence.</p>
<p>“As of this moment, I’m convinced he’s made the decision,” the US leader said.</p>
<p>“We have reason to believe that.”</p>
<p>He reiterated that the assault could occur in the “coming days”.</p>
<p>The president’s comments at the White House followed a day of rising violence that included a humanitarian convoy hit by shelling and a car bombing in the eastern city of Donetsk.</p>
<p>Pro-Russian rebels began evacuating civilians from the conflict zone with an announcement that appeared to be part of Moscow’s efforts to paint Ukraine as the aggressor instead.</p>
<p>Russia has also conducted massive nuclear drills on Saturday. The Kremlin had said that Mr Putin, who pledged to protect Russia’s national interests against what it sees as encroaching Western threats, would watch the drills and personally oversee the display of his country’s nuclear might from the situation room at the Russian defence ministry.</p>
<p>Notably, the planned exercise involves the Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula after seizing it from Ukraine in 2014.</p>
<p>Mr Biden reiterated his threat of crushing economic and diplomatic sanctions against Russia if it does invade, and pressed Mr Putin to reconsider. He said the US and its Western allies were more united than ever to ensure Russia pays a steep price for any invasion.</p>
<p>As further indication that the Russians are preparing for a major military push, a US defence official said an estimated 40% to 50% of the ground forces deployed in the vicinity of the Ukrainian border have moved into attack positions closer to the border.</p>
<p>That shift has been under way for about a week, other officials have said, and does not necessarily mean Mr Putin has decided to begin an invasion.</p>
<p>The official also said the number of Russian ground units known as battalion tactical groups in the border area had grown to as many as 125, up from 83 two weeks ago. Each group has 750 to 1,000 soldiers.</p>
<p>Lines of communication remain open. The US and Russian defence chiefs spoke on Friday, and US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to meet next week.</p>
<p>Immediate worries focused on eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have been fighting pro-Russia rebels since 2014 in a conflict that has killed some 14,000 people.</p>
<p>With an estimated 150,000 Russian troops now posted around Ukraine’s borders, the long-simmering separatist conflict could provide the spark for a broader attack.</p>
<p>Fears of such escalation intensified amid Friday’s violence. A bombing struck a car outside the main government building in the rebel-held city of Donetsk, according to an Associated Press journalist there.</p>
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