<span style="color: #222222;">NATO will hold an emergency meeting with Ukrainian officials at alliance headquarters in Brussels later today over the naval standoff with Russia off the coast of Crimea. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Russia fired on and then seized three Ukrainian ships yesterday, accusing them of illegally entering its waters in the Sea of Azov, in a dramatic spike in tensions that raises fears of a wider escalation.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg held phone talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and officials from the two sides will meet later in the day.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">Kiev demanded the return of its ships and sailors, denouncing it as another act of armed aggression by Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.</span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Ukrainian military has been put on high and the country's parliament is to vote on a request by Poroshenko to impose martial law for 60 days.</span><br />'' <br />