Four civilians were killed in intense shelling attacks between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian rebels in the separatist east of the war-torn state, officials from both sides said Thursday.

"Two civilians were killed as a result of shelling in Dzerzhynsk," about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the rebels' de facto capital Donetsk, representative of the region's Kiev-appointed administration's health department told Agence France Presse.

Three civilians and one Ukrainian soldier have been killed over the past day in renewed fighting in the east of the country, where pro-Russian rebels are waging an insurgency, Kiev said on Saturday.

The civilians were killed when the rebels fired on the town of Avdiivka, held by pro-government troops, the interior ministry said, while the army said a soldier died in the neighboring region of Lugansk.

Former Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for "saving my life" during the bloody demonstrations that led to his ouster.

Yanukovych, currently exiled in Russia, told the BBC that he would like to return to Ukraine one day and blamed the country's plight on the demonstrators who occupied Kiev's Maidan Square -- the focal point of the uprising against his rule.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has repeatedly said that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun should give up his candidacy for the presidency to resolve Lebanon's political crisis.

Lebanon's Ambassador to Moscow, Shawqi Bou Nassar, has said in a report that Bogdanov was in favor for Aoun to “pave way for other candidates and allow other Christian personalities to announce their candidacies.”

Moscow will extend its embargo on European Union agricultural products but is unlikely to go further if the EU extends sanctions as expected, economy minister Alexei Ulyukayev said Thursday.

"We'll just keep the status quo: the embargo on produce introduced in response to the sanctions regime -- of course, it's a symmetrical measure," Ulyukayev told RIA Novosti state news agency.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday pressed his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to ensure that Moscow respects the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, the State Department said.

In a telephone call to Lavrov, Kerry "urged Russia to seize the opportunity of upcoming meetings of the Trilateral Contact Group and its Working Groups to accelerate progress on implementing the Minsk agreements," signed in February, said John Kirby, a State Department spokesman.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko warned Thursday of the "colossal threat" of major clashes in eastern Ukraine where at least 26 people have died in renewed fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels.

Fresh clashes erupted near the rebel stronghold of Donetsk on Wednesday, in one of the worst outbreaks of violence since a European-brokered truce was agreed in February.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Friday enacted laws banning Soviet symbols and communist-era propaganda, his office said, after the measures drew strong Russian criticism when they were approved by parliament last month.

The measures come as Ukraine's pro-Western government seeks a complete break with its Soviet past and as its soldiers fight rebels in its east allegedly supported by Russia.

NATO and the European Union on Thursday said they wanted to tighten cooperation in the face of "new threats" emanating from the assertive policies of Russia in the ex-USSR and violence to the south of the military alliance's borders.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Turkey's southern resort of Antalya, said the two organisations were "different in nature" but facing similar challenges.

Head of al-Mustaqbal Movement and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri will head to Moscow for a two-day official visit this week to tackle the crisis gripping Lebanon, at forefront the presidential vacuum.

Local newspapers reported on Monday that Hariri will meet during his visit to Russia President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other senior officials.