GETTY Ukraine plans to conduct missile-firing drills over the Black Sea

FREE now and never miss the top politics stories again. SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again. We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Ukraine plans to conduct missile-firing drills over the Black Sea in territory that Russia now claims as its own following the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. But Ukraine and Western powers refuse to recognise Russia now controls the peninsula. The standoff escalated further late last week when Kiev announced plans to test fire missiles near the town of Simferopol in central Crimea on December 1 and 2.

In response, chairman of the foreign policy committee in the upper house of the Russian parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, warned about the potential for a rapid escalation in hostilities. He said: "If the situation escalates to the point where a military response is necessary, this will surely be the most frightening and undesirable scenario of events, which all of us should prevent at all costs." The senator added: "I'd place an accent on the phrase 'all of us' because that's not exclusively Russia's problem."

South Korea prepares for WAR in test-fire exhibition Tue, September 6, 2016 South Korea have shown the world it's ready for war as Kim Jong Un marches towards nuclear apocalypse. South Korea put its latest high-tech weapons systems on show as tensions rise in the region following Pyongyang's test-firing of three missiles this week Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 10 A South Korean K1A2 tank fires during a live fire demonstration for a media preview of the Defense Expo Korea 2016 at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, 65 kms northeast of Seoul, on September 6, 2016

Vladimir Putin is following the situation closely, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Sergei Zheleznyak, a member of Russia's State Duma Committee for International Affairs, called on the EU and NATO to intervene. He said Ukraine's "irresponsible and unreasonable actions" were a cause of "great concern".

GETTY Ukraine and Western powers refuse to recognise Russian claims over Crimea