MOSCOW - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has warned that further involvement by NATO member countries in the Ukraine crisis would lead to "an unpredictable escalation".

In a conference call with military officials on Monday, Shoigu said Western arms shipments to Kiev were effectively dragging the Atlantic Pact into the conflict, warning that this could lead to an "unpredictable" level of escalation.

"The United States and its allies are trying to prolong the conflict as much as possible," Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, according to Interfax news agency.

"To do so, they have started supplying heavy offensive weapons, openly urging Ukraine to seize our territories. In reality, these steps are dragging NATO countries into the conflict and could lead to an unpredictable level of escalation," he said.

In another part of his speech Shoygu tried to explain the strategy of the Ukrainian troops; “Kiev's forces understand that they will not be able to defeat Russia militarily, so they strike civilian targets to intimidate the civilian population,” he said. “Realizing that it will not be possible to defeat Russia by military means, the Ukrainian leadership continues to resort to criminal actions to intimidate citizens in the new constituent entities of Russia.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine are targeting residential areas, hospitals, gathering places of the civilian population and committing terrorist acts against state and social structures," he said.

Furthermore, according to Shoygu, the "barbaric nature" of the Ukrainian authorities is evidenced by their reluctance to cease fire for Christmas.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine during this period cynically conducted intensive shelling of population centers. In total, the enemy fired five hundred and fifty rounds of artillery and mortars," the minister said.

Shoigu then pointed the finger at the United States and allies of wanting to prolong the conflict by supplying weapons to pass through Ukraine, openly inviting Kiev to seize our territories". But according to a source of the Ukrainian armed forces quoted by the Financial Times, it is Russia to prepare a new large-scale offensive which will be launched "within the next 10 days".

The 'mole' refers to "very reliable intelligence data". The offensive could start from the cities of Kremennaya and Lyman (in Donbass ed) where the Russian army is concentrating many of its military resources" and where there is already fighting. Yesterday the UN secretary general issued an alarm on the risk of an extension of the war.The danger of a nuclear conflict, warns Antonio Guterres, "hasn't been so high for decades".