Fighting in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine's border guard agency said on Monday that five pro-Russia separatists were killed and eight injured when the rebels attacked one of its camps in the city of Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.

A spokesman for the agency said seven border guards were injured. A spokesman for the rebels confirmed only one injured separatist fighter.

News agency reports suggest there have been two waves of attacks on the camp, with the first involving around 100 pro-Russian insurgents, and the second, a few hours later, involving several hundred. There was no indication that the fighting had ended by late Monday afternoon, local time.

Fresh fighting was also reported in Slovyansk, a separatist stronghold in the Donetsk region on Monday.

Little common ground between NATO and Russia

Meanwhile, a meeting in Brussels between Russia's envoy to NATO and ambassadors from the Western military alliance's member states showed there was still little common ground between the two sides.

Russia's envoy, Alexander Grushko accused NATO of encouraging the Ukrainian government to use force in eastern Ukraine and hampering efforts to find a peaceful solution.

"We have noticed unprecedented NATO activity near Russia's borders. It is excessive, inappropriate, and weakens stability, security and predictability in the Euro-Atlantic region," Russia's state-run RIA news agency quoted Grushko as saying.

He was evidently referring to NATO moves in recent weeks to reassure its member states in the region, sending additional troops and aircraft to Poland and former Soviet Baltic states.

'Fundamentally different views'

NATO's spokeswoman, Oana Lungescu, said the meeting showed "that there are fundamentally different views on this crisis, on its origins, on what is happening now and on how it should be resolved."

She said the NATO ambassadors had called on Russia "to respect its international commitments, to stop the flow of arms and weapons across the border, to stop supporting armed separatists in Ukraine."

They also called for Russian troops to be withdrawn from the Ukraine border region in a "full and verifiable manner."

The crisis in Ukraine is to be a major topic of discussion when Nato defense ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday.

pfd/ipj (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)