The casualties came in a clash between Ukraine and Militia Forces Pro - Russia
Ukrainian special forces and pro- Russian militias exchanged gunfire Sunday in the eastern Ukrainian city Slovyansk , both sides reported casualties .
Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov said a security service officer was killed and five others injured , in the latest battle after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula , Ukraine , last month . At least one pro - Russian activists were also killed and two wounded in the crossfire .
Ukraine escalating violence came a day after armed groups took over the pro - Russian Slovyansk police headquarters , and government facilities in the city of Donetsk and Kramatorsk the majority ethnic Russian population .
In a statement , NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was very concerned about the escalation of tensions in the region . He described it as an integrated campaign with violence by pro - Russian separatists seeking to destabilize Ukraine .
Fogh Rasmussen asked Russia to defuse the crisis and withdraw thousands of troops near the border of Ukraine . On Saturday , U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry , in a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov , warned there would be consequences in addition to the sanctions that have been imposed on Russian officials if Moscow does not move to ease tensions in eastern Ukraine .
Lavrov said the crisis was due to the Kyiv government ignores the legitimate needs and interests of the Russian -speaking population in eastern Ukraine .VOA
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