Almost two thirds of Germans fear Russia plans further land grabs in Ukraine, according to an opinion poll released on the eve of Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to the conflict-torn country.

And 60 percent of respondents said they worried that the crisis will lead to a direct military confrontation between Russia and its former Soviet satellite, according to the Politbarometer survey by public broadcaster ZDF.

The West on Friday blasted Moscow for unilaterally sending a controversial aid convoy to east Ukraine's rebel-held Lugansk in a move Kiev decried as an "invasion."

The European Union said it "deplored" Russia's decision to order in the convoy, which local officials said had begun arriving in Lugansk, without consent and called on Moscow to withdraw the trucks.

Russian authorities launched nationwide inspections of McDonald's restaurants Thursday after shutting three wildly-popular Moscow locations on apparent government orders aimed at striking back against biting Western sanctions.

It was the latest and arguably most resonant salvo in an escalating and economically-bruising trade war over a bloody conflict in Ukraine that has plunged East-West relations into what some have dubbed a "new Cold War".

Ukraine's president said he will "talk peace" with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by demanding the withdrawal of pro-Kremlin militants from the war-torn east when they meet next week for the first time in months.

Usually, it is the United States that doles out rebukes over human rights abuses to the troublesome country of the day.

"The bus for Irkutsk leaves in an hour", the loudspeaker blares. Messages broadcast over the tent camp remind refugees from Ukraine's civil war that their "new life" awaits them here in Russia.

Just a few kilometers inside the border, with artillery fire popping in the far distance, those who have fled the fighting lean against a dusty Lada car and watch a bus pull in to carry other refugees away.

Fierce fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels left dozens of civilians dead on Wednesday with artillery pounding central Donetsk as Ukrainian troops pushed on with a bloody offensive.

Deadly battles to crush the ailing rebellion appeared to intensify ahead of a fresh round of diplomacy that will see the presidents of Russia and Ukraine meet next week for the first time in months.

The Russian defense ministry said Wednesday it was conducting fresh military exercises in the south of the country as fighting intensified between rebels and government forces in Ukraine.

The major test of long-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems will take place at the Ashuluk base in Russia's southern Astrakhan region, several hundred kilometers (miles) from the fighting in eastern Ukraine, a spokesman told Interfax news agency.

Army chief General Jean Qahwaji is scheduled to travel to Russia soon to discuss ways that Moscow can provide the Lebanese army with military aid, news reports said on Wednesday.

Qahwaji aims to diversify the sources of military weapons provided to Lebanon within the $500 million quota allocated to the army and as part of the one billion Saudi grant in that regard, As Safir daily reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko will meet next week in Belarus with EU representatives, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Meanwhile Poroshenko's office said leaders would use the August 26 meeting to discuss ways to stabilize the situation in eastern Ukraine, energy security and Kiev's new trade deal with the European Union, which Russia has opposed.