NEW YORK, Jan. 31 - The UN Security Council expressed its "grave concern" on Tuesday over the "dangerous deterioration" in eastern Ukraine and called for a halt to the violence.

"The members of the Security Council expressed their full support of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the Security Council said in statement carried by Reuters. "The members of the Security Council called for an immediate return to a ceasefire regime."

The Security Council includes both Russia and the Ukraine, which is a rotating member of the council. Both nations had agreed to the Security Council statement, which noted the unrest's "severe impact on the local civilian population".

Earlier in the day, Ukraine and Russia had blamed each other for a surge in fighting in recent days that has led to the highest casualty toll in weeks and cut off power and water to thousands of civilians on the front line.

The Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists accuse each other of launching offensives in the government-held industrial town of Avdiyivka and firing heavy artillery in defiance of the two-year-old Minsk ceasefire deal.

Eight Ukrainian troops have been killed and 26 wounded since fighting intensified on Sunday - the heaviest losses for the military since mid-December, according to government figures.

President Petro Poroshenko cut short a visit to Germany on Monday after escalation of fighting in eastern Ukraine killed 12 and left Avdiyivka without electricity and heat supply in the middle of winter.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry called on the international community to put diplomatic pressure on Russia in order to stop the deadly escalation of the conflict.

The ministry said targeting of non-military property of the Avdiyivka town by the pro-Russian militants is effectively a war crime that breaks the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949.

“The power supplies cut completely to Avdiyivka and Yasynuvata, while 400,000 people were left without water and heat supplies,” the ministry said.

Poroshenko’s spokesman, Sviatoslav Tseholko, said the president has cut the visit to Germany due to the emergency unfolding in Avdiyivka and to make sure the government takes necessary steps to restore electric and heat supplies.

The conflict between Ukrainian government forces and the separatists has killed about 10,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. (rt/ez)