DONETSK, February 18. /TASS/. The situation in Donbass is on the brink of war, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin said on Friday.

"Regrettably, yes," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel when asked whether the situation in Donbass was nearing a large-scale war."

The situation along the contact line in eastern Ukraine deteriorated on Thursday morning, when the self-proclaimed republics reported the most intense shelling attacks by Ukrainian troops. One civilian was wounded and several civil infrastructure facilities were damaged.