- U.N. chief warns warring sides to respect ceasefire after "dangerous surge in fighting"
- Ban: "Return to full-scale fighting could be catastrophic for Ukraine, the region and beyond"
- A Red Cross worker from Switzerland was killed in shelling in Donetsk on Thursday
- Ten civilians died a day earlier in Donetsk when a school was shelled
(CNN) -- U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged Ukrainian government forces and rebel fighters to respect a fragile ceasefire, following the death of a Swiss Red Cross worker in shelling in eastern Ukraine.
The humanitarian worker, named by the International Committee of the Red Cross as 38-year-old Laurent DuPasquier, was killed when a shell landed near the ICRC building in Donetsk city.
Ban said he was "saddened and disturbed" to learn of the death, which came only a day after 10 civilians were killed in the shelling of a Donetsk school, according to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
"The Secretary-General is seriously concerned over the dangerous surge in fighting in recent days and mounting civilian casualties," a statement from Ban's office said.
"These recent, tragic incidents underscore the fragility of the current ceasefire and the importance of ensuring a secure environment in south-eastern Ukraine that will allow humanitarian actors to carry out their work and deliver critical assistance to those most in need."
The ceasefire deal was agreed on September 5 in Minsk, Belarus, following talks between representatives of Ukraine's government, Russia and rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine. A subsequent agreement on September 19 in Minsk set out more measures.
Ban called for all sides to strictly adhere to their commitments under the deal and to redouble their efforts toward a lasting peace.
"A return to full-scale fighting could be catastrophic for Ukraine, the region and beyond," he warned.
'Deeply shocked'
OSCE chief and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter urged all sides to stop fighting immediately and observe the ceasefire -- which the OSCE has been monitoring -- and to implement the measures agreed in Minsk.
To put the ceasefire at risk "would be irresponsible and deplorable," his office said in a statement.
Civilians living in eastern Ukraine urgently need a return to peace and stability, Burkhalter said, and humanitarian agencies working in the region need to be able to help them before the onset of winter.
The Red Cross has about 20 staffers in Donetsk, five of them international, the ICRC said in a statement.
DePasquier had been with the organization for five years but had arrived in Ukraine only six weeks before he was killed.
"We are deeply shocked by this tragic loss," ICRC director of operations Dominik Stillhart said Thursday.
"We understand that there were other civilian casualties in Donetsk today. Indiscriminate shelling of residential areas is unacceptable and violates international humanitarian law."
Airport battle
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said that Donetsk airport remained at the center of military activity Thursday, with fighting ongoing.
"After two attacks with tanks and Grad missiles, militants stormed the airport four times yesterday. Our troops heroically kept the defense," it said. "All attacks were repelled with heavy losses upon terrorists."
The military body, which customarily refers to the rebels as terrorists, said that rebel fighters also had directed artillery, mortar and small arms fire at Ukrainian forces near four towns in the Donetsk region.
One Ukrainian soldier was killed and 18 injured in the past day, it said.
Kiev and the West accuse Russia of supporting and arming the rebels, as well as sending its own troops over the border.
Unrest began with protests in the country's capital, Kiev, last year after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych, favoring closer ties to Russia, dropped plans to sign a political and economic agreement with the European Union.
After months of protests and days of deadly clashes between demonstrators and security personnel in Kiev, Parliament ousted Yanukovych in February. Weeks later, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula.
In April, violence broke out in two Ukrainian regions that border Russia -- Donetsk and Luhansk -- as separatist leaders declared independence from the government in Kiev. Since mid-April, the conflict between the pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military has cost more than 2,500 lives, according to the United Nations.
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CNN's Richard Roth contributed to this report.
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