Three pro-Russian militants have been killed and 13 wounded after Ukrainian troops repelled an attack on a National Guard base in the Black Sea port of Mariupol in the south east of the country.

Ukraine's interior minister Arsen Avakov said that a crowd of around 300 men, armed with Molotov cocktails, attacked the base but were repelled by the National Guard and police forces.

Mr Avakov said that 63 people had been arrested as a result of the operation and that most of the attackers were disarmed.

A well-armed, Russia-backed insurgency has sowed chaos in eastern Ukraine in the past weeks. Militants have seized police stations and administrative buildings in at least ten towns in the region, including Mariupol.

The latest unrest came just hours before diplomats from Ukraine, the US, the European Union and Russia prepared to meet for the first time over the burgeoning crisis.

With Ukraine struggling to contain the pro-Russian uprising, the Obama administration has said it is readying additional sanctions against Moscow and a boost in aid for the Ukrainian military in the coming days.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.