The United States said it has evidence that Russia is firing artillery to Ukrainian forces and said Moscow is planning to deliver "heavier and more powerful" rocket launchers to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The accusations, if confirmed, will mark an escalation of Russia's direct military intervention in the Ukraine civil war in which rebels are fighting Kiev forces to join Russia.

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U.S. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said Russia is attacking the Ukraine military positions in the past weeks, and said the assessment was based on human intelligence gathered by its agencies in Ukraine.

"We have new evidence that the Russians intend to deliver heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers to the separatist forces in Ukraine," Harf said.

The statement came days after the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in rebel-held eastern Ukraine allegedly shot down by separatists in the region. The rebels used surface-to-air missile with the support of Russian army. All of the 298 people on board were killed.

Moreover, Kiev said two of its Su-25 fighter jets were shot down over the rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday. An initial assessment showedthe missiles that brought them down might have been fired from Russia.

Moscow has deployed at least 15, 000 forces in the Ukrainian border.

Russia has earlier denied accusations that it is helping the Ukraine rebels. However, the West and European countries criticized Russia because it failed to curb the violence that killed hundreds of people in both sides.

The U.S. and EU have imposed sanctions on Russia last week, and threatened to impose harsher penalties if Moscow will not act on the Ukraine conflict, which has alarmed the international community over deadlier armed battles.

Aside from Russian individuals and entities, EU officials are also considering restricting Russian access to European financial markets and exports of militarily sensitive goods to Russia, as backed by other countries following the MH17 plane incident. 

TagsUkraine, Russia