A priest stands in front of a hospital destroyed after shelling between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern city of Donetsk, Ukraine, on January 19.

Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)

January 20, 2015 04:05 GMT

Final Summary For January 20

-- A military spokesman says Ukrainian soldiers on January 20 came under attack from Russian regular forces in the north of the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.

-- Germany's foreign minister says he and his counterparts from Ukraine, Russia, and France will meet on January 21 in Berlin in a bid to de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine.

-- The chief of Russian gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine's discount "winter price" for natural gas will end on April 1. Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller said in a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that the price for Kyiv would be set in accordance with a long-standing contract, one Kyiv has long sought to change.

-- Russia says a European Union decision to keep sanctions against Russia in place shows the EU is not ready to change an "unfriendly course" toward Moscow. The EU's decision "only confirms the fact that the EU is still not ready to alter its unfriendly course or to give an objective assessment of the Kyiv authorities' actions," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

-- A Georgian man fighting on the Ukrainian side in the conflict in Ukraine has been killed in combat near the Donetsk airport, according to relatives. Media reports in Georgia quote members of Tamaz Sukhiashvili's family as saying he was killed in a battle near the bitterly contested airport on January 17.

-- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has expressed deep concern over what it says is the "escalation" of violence between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine over the past two weeks. In a statement, the ICRC said the fighting in and around the city of Donetsk was killing civilians and "preventing" its team from carrying out its humanitarian work.

-- An explosion near a courthouse in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv has wounded 14 people, four of them seriously.

-- Russia says Kyiv is trying to solve the crisis in eastern Ukraine through military force and that could lead to "irreversible consequences for Ukrainian statehood." Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin spoke to Interfax news agency as Kyiv and Moscow accused each other of ignoring appeals for a cease-fire to be respected.

*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv

07:33 22.12.2014

07:23 22.12.2014

Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item from RFE/RL's news desk on Alyaksandr Lukashenka's visit to Kyiv:

Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has vowed to help Ukraine as it struggles with pro-Russian rebels in the east and economic troubles.

The authoritarian Lukashenka met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on December 21.

According to the Belarusian state news agency Belta, Lukashenka said: "I want everything in Ukraine to be good."

"If something is needed from Belarus, say so, and we will do it all for you in a day," Lukashenka was quoted as saying.

Minsk hosted talks in September that led to a cease-fire agreement.

Analysts say Lukashenka may fear a repeat in his country of the protests in Ukraine that led to the ouster in February of former President Viktor Yanukovych, a close ally of Moscow.

But Lukashenka also has stalled on a Russian initiative to form a union state with Belarus.

(AP)

20:27 21.12.2014

Barring any major developments, that concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for today. Check back tomorrow morning for more continuing coverage.

20:02 21.12.2014

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14:59 21.12.2014

Obama Says Putin Presiding Over Economic Contraction -- CNN Interview

WASHINGTON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has rejected the charge that he has been outmaneuvered by Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying in a TV interview due for broadcast later on Sunday that Putin was presiding over "a huge economic contraction" due to the Ukraine crisis.

Obama, in an interview with Candy Crowley on CNN's "State of the Union" program, rejected the notion that Putin "is the chess master and outmaneuvering the West and outmaneuvering Mr. Obama and this and that and the other."

The United States and Europe have imposed a series of economic sanctions on Russia.

"And right now, he's presiding over the collapse of his currency, a major financial crisis and a huge economic contraction," Obama said in the interview, which was recorded on Friday.

"That doesn't sound like somebody who has rolled me or the United States of America."

13:51 21.12.2014

Here is today's situation map of eastern Ukraine by the National Security and Defense Council:

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Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)