Russian military forces continue to gather on the Ukraine's southeast border, and Russia continues to funnel heavy equipment to Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine, a Pentagon spokesman reiterated on Tuesday.

More than 10,000 Russian soldiers in combined arms battalion tactical units are massed at the border, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said at a press conference.

These battalion groups consist of infantry, armor and artillery, and also have organic air defense capabilities, the admiral said. "They are capable across a wide spectrum of military operations," he added.

Kirby called these forces capable and ready, and said they are closer to the Ukrainian border than Russian forces were in the spring. "We continue to see advanced weapons systems moving across the border and being provided to the separatists," Kirby said.

These systems include multiple rocket-launched systems, artillery, tanks and air defense systems including the air defense system that allegedly shot down the Malaysia Airline flight last week. "That activity needs to stop," Kirby said.

U.S. concern is less about the pace of the buildup than the fact that it is happening at all, the spokesman said. "It does nothing, again, to de-escalate tensions," he said. "It only increases the risk of violence inside Ukraine."

Meanwhile, he noted that the U.S. Defense Department continues to look at requests coming from the Ukrainian government. "The nonlethal support and assistance that had been previously approved has made its way in the large part... to Ukrainian security forces, " he said.

On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke on Ukraine situation in a video conference call with British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

The leaders agreed on the importance of coordinated sanctions measures on Russia for its continued transfer of arms, equipment, and fighters into eastern Ukraine, and to press Russia to end its efforts to destabilize Ukraine. 

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