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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

15:38 13.1.2015

15:28 13.1.2015

Another update from our news desk:

The U.S. Treasury says Washington plans to provide up to $2 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine this year as part of a broader international package to stave off bankruptcy in the country.

The Treasury said in a statement on January 13 that the guarantees would be contingent on Kyiv remaining on track with the conditions of its loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The statement said Washington will provide a first $1 billion loan guarantee in the first half of 2015, provided Kyiv observes the reform program agreed with the IMF.

"If Ukraine continues making concrete progress on its reform agenda and if conditions warrant, the U.S. Administration will be willing, working with Congress, to provide an additional $1 billion loan guarantee in late 2015," said the statement.

IMF officials are in Ukraine this week to resume negotiations on the package.

U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Nathan Sheets is also meeting on January 13 in Kyiv with Ukrainian officials, including Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Central Bank Governor Valeria Hontareva.

With additional reporting by Reuters

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14:19 13.1.2015

Here are some more details from our news desk on the fatal missile attack in eastern Ukraine that killed a number of civilians:

Ukrainian authorities say at least six civilians were killed and more than a dozen wounded when a projectile hit a bus in eastern Ukraine.

The incident occurred on January 13 at an army checkpoint near the town of Volnovakha, 35 kilometers southwest of the rebel-held provincial capital of Donetsk.

The military said the civilians were killed by an explosion caused by a Grad rocket.

One report said the bus was carrying civilians from the coastal city of Mariupol.

The separatist, self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic denied responsibility, saying the government checkpoint is "beyond our artillery's range."

The deaths came a day after the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France, meeting in Berlin, failed to make sufficient progress to warrant holding a four-nation summit this week as part of efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

(AFP, AP, Reuters, Interfax)

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