Four Ukrainian soldiers killed in Donetsk fighting

DONTESK , Ukraine, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- The Ukrainian military announced Thursday morning four soldiers were killed and 18 injured in the past 24 hours in fighting around the Donetsk airport.

Pro-Russian rebels involved in the conflict at the airport reported three people were injured in overnight shelling.

The combat escalation came the day after NATO confirmed Russian troops, tanks and supplies were arriving in Ukraine, evidently prepared for military action. The Ukrainian government and monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe made similar observations several days ago. The NATO statement was dismissed by Moscow, although it admitted volunteers have crossed the border from Russia into Ukraine.

"Across the last two days we have seen the same thing that O.S.C.E. is reporting. We have seen columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defense systems and Russian combat troops entering into Ukraine," NATO's Gen. Philip M. Breedlove said in Sofia, Bulgaria.

United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Jens Anders Toyberg-Frandzen told the Security Council he was "deeply concerned by the possibility of a return to full-scale fighting," and concern by the likelihood of a "frozen and protracted conflict that would entrench the status quo in southeastern Ukraine for years or several decades to come."