Nato vows to boost forces ahead of Ukraine talks

Nato plans to boost its forces in eastern Europe “within days” as Ukraine struggles to counter armed pro-Moscow groups ahead of international talks on its ongoing crisis.

Masked gunmen seized six armoured personnel carriers from Ukrainian troops in the city of Kramatorsk yesterday and people in the nearby town of Pchyolkino blockaded a larger group of paratroopers’ vehicles.

Anti-government protesters took control of the Donetsk mayor’s office, extending the list of official buildings they now occupy in about 10 towns and cities in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland.

Kiev says Moscow’s agents and non-uniformed soldiers are orchestrating the unrest, just as they allegedly did in Crimea when the Kremlin annexed it last month, adding fuel to the worst east-west crisis since the cold war.

"You will see deployments at sea, in the air, on land, to take place immediately. That means within days," Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday. There are no plans to send forces to Ukraine, however.

Kiev's pro-western prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of seeking to build "a new Berlin wall" in Europe, but insisted that he hoped for progress in tomorrow's talks in Geneva between top diplomats from Ukraine, the US, EU and Russia.