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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

16:12 12.1.2015

Foreign Ministers Gather In Berlin For Ukraine Meeting

Residents of Donetsk, in Ukraine, on January 12 examine the area around their homes, which reportedly were damaged by shelling.
Residents of Donetsk, in Ukraine, on January 12 examine the area around their homes, which reportedly were damaged by shelling.

15:23 12.1.2015

12:01 12.1.2015

Latvian FM says road to peace in Ukraine long, hard:

Latvia's foreign minister, visiting Moscow, says "serious disagreements" over the conflict in Ukraine mean it may take a long time to find a solution.

Edgars Rinkevics, whose country holds the rotating European Union presidency, spoke at a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after their talks on January 12.

"I think the settlement process and the negotiating process will be complicated," Rinkevics said.

He said he believed the process "will take some time because we can see from our dialogue with all sides that there are serious disagreements."

Rinkevics spoke with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on January 9.

His meeting with Lavrov came hours before Lavrov was to meet the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Germany, and France in Berlin later on January 12.

More than 4,700 people have been killed in a conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since April, including more than 1,300 since a deal on a cease-fire and steps toward peace was signed in Minsk on September 5.

Russia denies involvement and blames Kyiv and the West for the conflict.

Lavrov gave no sign of a change in Moscow's position.

He demanded Western states use their influence to "prevent the party of war in Kyiv from crushing all the fragile hopes that were created by the Minsk accords." (Interfax, AFP, and Reuters)

12:00 12.1.2015

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11:17 12.1.2015

Should any translation be required, Ukraine's PM is saying, "Don't worry, dear, we'll always be with you."

11:14 12.1.2015

11:13 12.1.2015

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