NATO officials say they will hold an “extraordinary” meeting Monday to discuss the resurgence of fighting in the eastern part of the country.

Ambassadors from the 28 NATO members and Ukraine plan to meet within hours in Brussels.  Reuters reports the meeting is being held at the request of Kyiv.

Earlier Monday, Ukraine’s military said seven of its soldiers had been killed in the past day during renewed fighting in the separatist, war-torn eastern region. Officials say at least 24 soldiers have been wounded in the violence.

Fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia rebels in recent days has been at the worst level since agreement on a cease-fire in September.

U.S. President Barack Obama and European leaders on Sunday threatened new sanctions on Russia after rebels launched a deadly rocket attack on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol the previous day.

Obama said he would “ratchet up” pressure on Moscow following the attack that killed at least 30 people and wounded more than 80 others when rockets slammed into a market and apartment buildings.

“We are deeply concerned about the latest break in the [Ukrainian] cease-fire and the aggression that these separatists, with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops, are conducting. And we will continue to take the approach that we have taken in the past, which is to ratchet up the pressure on Russia, and I will look at all additional options that are available to us short of military confrontation and try to address this issue.”

Some European leaders have recently talked of easing economic sanctions against Moscow.  But Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister who now chairs European Union summits, tweeted in a message, “Once again, appeasement encourages the aggressor to greater acts of violence. Time to step up our policy based on cold facts, not illusions.”

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said that radio and telephone conversations intercepted by Kyiv prove that Russian-backed separatists were responsible for the Mariupol attack.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Kyiv’s forces were responsible for increased fighting in recent days in eastern Ukraine. Lavrov told European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in a phone call Sunday that Moscow wants the EU to pressure Ukraine to negotiate with the rebels to implement a frequently broken cease-fire agreed to last September. 

Mogherini said she is calling a meeting Thursday of EU foreign ministers to discuss the new violence in Ukraine.
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