America has reassured its East European allies of Nato's support as the worst post-Cold War stand-off between Russia and the West continues.
US Vice President Joe Biden phoned Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and "underscored the ironclad commitment of the US" to the collective defence of Nato members.
They "agreed that Russia would face further costs for its destabilising actions in Ukraine and massing of troops along the Russian-Ukrainian border," the White House said.
The US has ruled out sending American or Nato forces into Ukraine, but has begun deploying 600 US troops to bolster defences in the nearby countries of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry is urging Russia to help free a team of international military observers in eastern Ukraine.
Eight members of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were travelling with five Ukrainian troops when they were detained by separatists in the flashpoint town of Slavyansk.
A barricade around the state security service building in Slavyansk Pro-Russian gunmen plan to use them as a "human shield" and are "co-ordinating activities with Russia" - according to the Ukraine Security Service.
Moscow said it would take "all possible steps" to free the military monitors as their capture was condemned by Western leaders.
However, rebels accused the observers of being "Nato spies" and vowed to continue holding them.
It comes as Britain and other G7 nations agreed new sanctions against Russia.
Speaking at a news conference in Malaysia, US President Barack Obama said it was important for the world to send Russia a message.
"We're going to be in a stronger position to deter Mr Putin when he sees that the world is unified and the United States and Europe is unified rather than this is just a US-Russian conflict," he said.
He said Russia had not "lifted a finger" to get pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine to comply with an international agreement to defuse the crisis.
"In fact, there's strong evidence that they've been encouraging the activities in eastern and southern Ukraine," he said.
Senior EU diplomats are to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Monday to discuss sanctions against Moscow.
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