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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.
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)

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

17:38 11.1.2015

13:17 11.1.2015
A Family Copes With Tragedy In Wartorn Donetsk
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Just reupping this heartbreaking video from late last week: A Family Copes With Tragedy In Wartorn Donetsk

09:11 11.1.2015

08:52 11.1.2015

So it looks like the Astana summit isn't going to happen.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a four-way summit on the Ukraine crisis will not be held until progress has been made on the Minsk peace plan.

Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said Merkel told Putin via phone on January 10 that she expects Moscow to use its influence on pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to reach "consensual solutions."

She told Putin that a summit of French, German, Russian, and Ukrainian leaders proposed for the Kazakh capital, Astana, cannot be held due to a lack of progress on the situation.

Such a summit had been proposed to be held in Astana on January 15.

Those countries' foreign ministers are to meet in Berlin on January 12.

Seibert said Merkel also discussed the Ukraine crisis with Poroshenko.

More than 4,700 people have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine since April.

15:27 10.1.2015

15:25 10.1.2015

14:18 10.1.2015

As we noted earlier, Fitch cuts Russia's credit rating to step above junk:

The international ratings agency Fitch Ratings has cut Russia's credit rating to the lowest investment grade after plummeting oil prices and the Ukraine conflict triggered the worst currency crisis since 1998.

Fitch announced on January 9 it had lowered its rating for Russian government debt to BBB-, just one notch above junk level.

It added a negative outlook on the rating, saying, "The economic outlook has deteriorated significantly since mid-2014 following sharp falls in the oil price and the ruble, coupled with a steep rise in interest rates."

Standard & Poor's cut Russia's credit rating to BBB- in April.

The world's biggest energy exporter is on the brink of a recession after crude prices fell more than 50 percent since June and the West imposed sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea in March. (AFP, Bloomberg.com, TASS)

13:29 10.1.2015

12:31 10.1.2015

It’s one of the greatest war crimes of modern times – and the truth still hasn’t been told. On July 17th 2014 at about 16:20 local time, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine. All 298 passengers died, including many children. Who fired the missile? Over several months the Berlin-based investigative newsroom CORRECT!V has gathered facts, investigated in eastern Ukraine and Russia, and found witnesses to the missile launch. The investigation unveiled a clear chain of evidence. MH17 was downed by a ground-launched BUK missile – launched by a unit of the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade from Kursk. The brigade unit, tasked with protecting Russian tank units, was operating in mid July on Ukrainian territory without displaying national emblems.

12:25 10.1.2015

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