Updated Aug. 27, 2014 3:30 p.m. ET
Fighting continued near Mariupol on Wednesday. Photo: AP
Kiev accused Russia of funneling more armor into rebel-held areas of Ukraine on Wednesday and said that Russian troops had seized several villages in a new offensive along its southern shore, which for months has been under government control.
The renewed fighting further dampened hopes of any peace deal, one day after the Russian and Ukrainian presidents met face-to-face in the Belarus capital of Minsk. Despite conciliatory remarks by both leaders, events on the ground signaled the Kremlin is far from ready to abandon its efforts to keep Ukraine in its sphere of influence.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signaled Wednesday he had no intention of backing away from an economic-cooperation agreement that will mean closer relations with the European Union.
Mr. Poroshenko has been pushing for an outright victory over the Russian-backed rebels. But after several weeks of battlefield successes in midsummer, Ukrainian government forces have been losing ground to the rebels, who have gotten reinforcements of fighters and weapons from Russia.
Moscow denies supplying the rebels, but Kiev and Western officials have dismissed that assertion.
The apparent escalation could be a new, dramatic challenge for U.S. and European leaders, who had threatened even deeper and costlier sanctions against Russia if it embarked on an invasion of eastern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has so far sought to avoid triggering such sanctions by keeping any Russian support for the rebels covert and deniable, to minimize the appearance of Russian involvement.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has evidence that Russian army units are now operating directly in eastern Ukraine.
"Nobody can seriously accept talk of 'separatists' in Ukraine anymore," Mr. Tusk told the Polish parliament. "The information is from NATO and confirmed by our intelligence, and is basically unambiguous."
He didn't elaborate on what the evidence was and took no questions. NATO officials last week said Russia has been using artillery against Ukrainian forces both from its own territory and inside Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the U.S. and European reaction to the alleged incursion was restrained.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the latest reports indicated that a "Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway" in eastern Ukraine. She didn't outline any immediate U.S. response.
EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht, who attended the Minsk meeting, declined to comment on the fighting but said that the EU still hoped for a ceasefire.
Throughout the crisis, Mr. Putin has combined talk of de-escalation and relieving civilian suffering with covert steps to step up the pressure on Kiev's forces.
Lately, the Kremlin appears to be signaling to the Ukrainian leadership that it won't allow fighters in Ukraine to be defeated on the battlefield—which would prove embarrassing for Mr. Putin domestically—and that Kiev must talk to them about more autonomy for the provinces along the Russian border.
This week Ukraine faced fighting on a new front—a fresh setback for Kiev after it all but admitted last week that it had failed to regain control of its border with Russia and stop the flow of troops and supplies to rebels.
Ukrainian officials said the latest offensive along the Azov Sea coast couldn't have been launched without Russian support.
Ukrainian soldiers posted along the border said that they were pounded by Russian artillery and rocket fire on and off for weeks, and that the bombardment intensified five days ago. Then a column of tanks blasted its way over the border Monday, easily overcoming the more lightly armed Ukrainian troops, they said.
On Wednesday a rebel website claimed its forces captured the coastal city of Novoazovsk. Kiev denied the reports, but said the city had been hit by artillery for several days, with some of the shots coming from inside Russia.
Ukrainian troops in Novoazovsk said the attackers weren't local separatists, and that they were riding tanks that appeared to have been hastily repainted with a symbol of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic.
"They are serious soldiers with serious equipment," said one bald soldier with a beard.
Officials in Kiev said Wednesday that another rebel column of up to 100 armored vehicles that entered Ukraine earlier this week from Russia had been spotted moving south through the Donetsk region, a possible move to link up with the new offensive.
Ukrainian troops were digging trenches around the port city of Mariupol, which sits on the strategically important road linking Russia and Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Russia annexed from Ukraine earlier this year.
Lately, Mariupol—which government forces secured in June—has served as a de facto provincial capital while Ukrainian troops have tried to retake the actual capital of Donetsk.
Kiev said it was rushing armor to stop the assault, but none was in sight in the city Wednesday. Volunteer government fighters said they had mined some roads, but they could do little to stop Russian tanks without armor and heavy weapons of their own. "The Russians can basically come as far as they want," said a fighter in a balaclava.
European diplomats said they were trying to keep Kiev-Moscow talks going despite the increasing violence. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said agreement on a bilateral cease-fire and effective control of the Russian-Ukrainian border were key to stopping the "escalation spiral."
A group of Russian soldiers, shown in Kiev on Wednesday. Ukrainian authorities said they were captured in Ukrainian territory. Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
"We are doing what we can to prevent a breakdown of the new line of communication," Mr. Steinmeier said, referring to Tuesday's meeting between Messrs. Putin and Poroshenko.
In a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr. Poroshenko said the meeting in Minsk was a "positive signal" that could lead to a peace agreement, according to his office.
But in Kiev, officials fear that a cease-fire could mean effectively ceding control of rebel areas in an arrangement that could become permanent. Most Ukrainians strongly support continuing the fight to regain rebel-held areas.
Mr. Putin, meanwhile, insists he has no control over fighters in Ukraine, making negotiations difficult.
While regional leaders and EU officials attending the talks in Minsk spoke of the need for a cease-fire, Mr. Putin kept his public remarks focused on trade and the damage that would be done to Russia's economy if Ukraine followed through with an EU association agreement.
Mr. Putin has called for changes to the agreement. But on Wednesday, Mr. Poroshenko said via Twitter TWTR -0.43% Twitter Inc. U.S.: NYSE $47.97 -0.21 -0.43% Aug. 27, 2014 3:54 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 23.85M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap $29.64 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee $359,112 08/27/14 Uber Faces Storm Over Controve... 08/26/14 Snapchat Fetches $10 Billion V... 08/25/14 Canada's Hootsuite Is Close to... More quote details and news » TWTR in 
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In Brussels, Mr. De Gucht said many of Russia's stated concerns were either bogus or easy to resolve using the pact's built-in flexibility on such issues as technical standards. But he said the EU woudn't amend the pact.
Vasyl Filipchuk, a former Ukrainian foreign ministry official, said Mr. Putin's attempt to insert Russia into the discussions on the EU pact looked like a way to interfere with Ukraine's foreign policy. It is about Ukraine being "an independent state with its own foreign policy," he said.
He said Mr. Poroshenko was in a tough position. "At the same time as negotiations, you have the Russian army and tanks entering the country," he said.
Write to Alan Cullison at alan.cullison@wsj.com and James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com
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