• Obama, Putin talk on phone amid rising tension in Ukraine
• Russia has 'absolutely no intention' of crossing border, says a minister

United Nations: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday said Russian President Vladimir Putin has assured him that he has "no intention" of sending troops into southern and eastern Ukraine, even as the UN chief reiterated his strong call for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Ban warned that given the heightened tensions, "even small sparks can ignite larger flames of unintended consequences".

"What started as a crisis in Ukraine, is now also a crisis over Ukraine. From the beginning, my objective has been to seek a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the crisis, in keeping with the fundamental principles of the UN Charter," Ban said following his briefing to the Security Council.On the Ukraine crisis, Ban said he had "strongly urged the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to de-escalate the situation, avoid hasty actions and immediately engage in direct and constructive dialogue to resolve all the problems". Amid increasing tension over Ukraine and massing of Russian troops on its border, President Barack Obama spoke to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and talked about a US proposal "for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis," the White House said. "Putin called Obama today to discuss the US proposal for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, which Secretary (of State, John) Kerry had again presented to (Russian) Foreign Minister (Sergei) Lavrov at the meeting at the Hague earlier this week, and which we developed following US consultations with our Ukrainian and European partners," the White House said.

Meanwhile, Russia has absolutely no intention of ordering its armed forces to cross over the Ukrainian border and the divisions between Moscow and the West on the crisis are narrowing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.