A group of unidentified, armed men captured a police building in a town in eastern Ukraine, the nation's Interior Ministry announced Saturday according to CNN.
The gunmen arrived in the town of Slaviansk and took control of the building. There were no casualties.
Officials from Donetsk city were sent to the building to investigate the incident. The country's acting Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, said on Facebook that the response to the gunmen's actions would be "very strong," according to CNN.
The building occupation is the latest in a string of government building takeovers that occurred in the eastern cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv.
Though the gunmen in Saturday's incident are unidentified, the other buildings were seized by pro-Russian protesters that are against the interim Ukraine government. The European-supported government was implemented after former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was supported by Russia, was ousted earlier this year.
That was followed by Russian troops being sent into the eastern peninsula Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed the peninsula's significant ethnic Russian population needed protection.
Crimea was annexed by Russia last month, setting into motion other separatist protests across eastern Ukraine.
The U.S. has accused Russia of fueling the protests in order to have an excuse to invade the country, which Russia denies, CNN reported.
According to NATO, there are already some 40,000 Russian troops stationed at the border.
Russia said the troops are there for military exercises. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said they are not planning on annexing the eastern territories, CNN reported.
Still, NATO is taking precautions. A destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, was stationed in the Black Sea to show U.S. support for allies in the region, Navy spokesman Lieutenant Shawn P. Eklund said according to CNN.
NATO said it will protect its allies "from the Baltic to the Black Sea" from the regional crisis, CNN reported.
