U.S. embassy in Ukraine says Russia is "propagating violence" in territory it controls

State of play: U.S. officials have warned that Russia is preparing to manufacture a pretext for an invasion and that it could take the form of a fabricated escalation in territory controlled by separatists, Axios' Zachary Basu reports.

• There were more than 1,500 ceasefire violations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on Friday, which is a massive uptick, according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's monitoring mission in Ukraine.
• The foreign ministers of Group of Seven countries on Saturday warned that the uptick in ceasefire violations "could be used as a pretext for possible military escalation."
• "Russia must use its influence over the self-proclaimed republics to exercise restraint and de-escalate," the G7 leaders said in a joint statement.

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Editor's note: This story has been updated with the number of ceasefire violations as reported by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the joint statement from G7 leaders.