OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Russia is mounting a “slow-motion” invasion of Ukraine.

Harper made the comment today at the start of talks with U.S. Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO’s supreme commander.

Breedlove is embarking on two days of talks with Canadian political and military leaders just as heavy clashes erupt between Ukrainian and pro-Russian forces in Ukraine’s eastern region.

He met briefly with Harper, Defence Minister Rob Nicholson and Canada’s military commander, Gen. Tom Lawson.

The meetings are being held against a backdrop of escalating violence in Ukraine, where the country’s elite troops have been dispatched to quell unrest in the key southern port city of Odessa.

Harper says the latest developments are “very deeply concerning” and that NATO has asked for Canada’s support.

“We are obviously concerned by the continuing escalation of violence in Ukraine, which to me very much appears to be clearly, what I would call, a slow motion invasion on the part of the Putin regime,” Harper said, seated next to Breedlove in the prime minister’s Langevin Block office.

Harper noted Canada has contributed air, naval and army assets, and that this was done to give assurances to Canada’s eastern European allies of its support.

Pitched battles between pro-Russian militants and Ukrainian forces took place in and around the city Slovyansk, which has been a hotbed of unrest.

Breedlove is expected to give Canadian authorities an update on NATO’s reassurance package for eastern European countries bordering the troubled region.

Canada has dispatched a frigate to operate with NATO’s standing task force in the eastern Mediterranean Sea; six CF-18 fighters to operate out of a Romanian air base; and will deploy troops from the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry to take part in a land exercise in Poland.