The Kremlin denied on Monday a report that Moscow was considering targeted strikes against Ukraine after shells landed across the border and killed a Russian civilian.

Respected daily Kommersant had quoted a source close to the Kremlin as saying Moscow was considering "targeted retaliatory strikes" against Ukraine, where clashes between pro-Moscow rebels and government troops escalated over the weekend.

But President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the report.

"I don't comment on this in any way. It's complete nonsense," he told AFP.

The source told Kommersant that Russia was considering the possibility of one-off strikes on positions that were the source of fire directed at Russian territory.

"Our patience is not limitless," the source was quoted as saying, adding that Russia "knows exactly where they (Ukrainians) are firing from".

Moscow said Sunday that a Ukrainian shell had landed in Russia and killed a civilian in what the foreign ministry said was "another act of aggression" that could have "irreversible consequences".

Ukraine denied the claim, saying government forces had never fired on a neighbouring state.

Several shells landed Sunday in the small Russian border town of Donetsk, which has the same name as rebels' stronghold city in eastern Ukraine, killing one resident and wounding two.

The deputy speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, Yevgeny Bushmin, said Sunday: "We need to use targeted weapons, like Israel does among others, to destroy those who launched this mine."