The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting this afternoon on the Ukraine crisis following reports that Russia has sent hundreds of troops to shore up separatists in east Ukraine.
The session, requested by Lithuania, will be held at 5pm Irish time at UN headquarters in New York, diplomats said.
It comes as a NATO military officer said that well over 1,000 Russian troops are operating inside Ukraine, in support of pro-Moscow separatists.
"They support separatists, fighting with them and fighting amongst them," the official said on condition of anonymity, adding that the supply of arms by Russia had increased in both "volume and quality".
Ukraine accused Russia today of bringing troops into the southeast of the country to support the rebels.
Russia said no forces were crossing Ukraine's border.
This morning, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said a Russian military invasion had taken place in Ukraine.
Mr Poroshenko called an urgent meeting of the country's security and defence council to decide the next steps in the crisis. He also cancelled a working trip to Turkey.
A member of President Vladimir Putin's advisory council on human rights, Ella Polyakova, also said she believes Russia is carrying out an invasion of Ukraine.
"When masses of people, under commanders' orders, on tanks, APCs and with the use of heavy weapons, (are) on the territory of another country, cross the border, I consider this an invasion," Ms Polyakova told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Moscow's envoy to the OSCE denied that any Russian troops were in eastern Ukraine.
"There are no Russian soldiers" in eastern Ukraine, Andrey Kelin told journalists, following an emergency meeting of the European security body to discuss developments in Ukraine.
Earlier, Ukraine said "Russian troops" had seized control of a key south eastern border town where fierce clashes had been raging.
"Yesterday Russian soldiers took control of the town of Novoazovsk," Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council wrote on Twitter, adding that a number of surrounding villages had also been seized.
Pro-Moscow rebel forces in Ukraine have gained a foothold on the Azov Sea and their objective is to fight their way down the coast to the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the leader of the main separatist entity has said.
Alexander Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said in an interview with Reuters that there were about 3,000 Russian volunteers serving in the rebel ranks.
He said that the rebels could defeat the Ukrainian military without the need for the Russian state to provide them with military support.
Ukraine has withdrawn its forces from Novoazovsk to save their lives and are now reinforcing defences of Mariupol, Ukraine's Security and Defence Council has said.
Ukraine's ambassador to the EU has called for "large-scale" military assistance from Brussels as Kiev and Washington claim Russian troops are fighting in the east of the country.
Kostiantyn Yelisieiev called for EU leaders who are meeting on Saturday to decide on "further resolute significant sanctions and large-scale military and technical assistance to Ukraine in order to stop the aggressor".
Earlier, the US ambassador in Kiev said Russia is now "directly involved" in fighting in the war-torn east of Ukraine.
"An increasing number of Russian troops are intervening directly in fighting in Ukrainian territory," Geoffrey Pyatt wrote on Twitter.
He added that Moscow was "directly involved in the fighting" and had sent in its "newest air defence systems including the SA-22".
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