At least 13 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in another 17 wounded one pro-Russian separatists carried out an attack on a military checkpoint in the Eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region using mortars, grenade launchers, and heavy automatic weapons. Another Ukrainian serviceman was killed overnight in the neighboring Luhansk region during a strike on a military convoy should.

Ukrainian border guards have once again stopped armed pro-Russian militant groups as they attempted to bring weapons and ammunition across the border from Russia, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.

As a result of the attack, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

Meanwhile on Ukraine’s eastern border, NATO has seen troop activity by the Russian military. NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the activity “may suggest some of these forces are preparing to withdraw.”

U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, spoke about the Russian troop movements at a news conference saying that it’s “too early to know where they are moving to or how many of them are moving, but what we do know is the force that remains on the border is very large and very capable and it remains in a very coercive posture.”

The Russian Defense Ministry confirms that troops have been moved from the area and says that 15 planeloads as well as 20 train loads of troops have been moved away from the border with Ukraine.

This newest violent incident occurred just days before the scheduled presidential elections that are taking place on Sunday.

  attacks, donetsk, militants, pro-russian, separatists, troops, Ukraine, world