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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

19:38 13.1.2015

More on those loan gurantees by RFE/RL's News Desk:

The United States has reinforced Western assistance for war-torn Ukraine by promising up to $2 billion in loan guarantees if the effort is matched by economic and political reforms in Kyiv.

The U.S. State Department said on January 13 that it intends to provide $1 billion in loan guarantees during the first half of 2015 and an additional $1 billion during the second half of the year, if progress continues.

The commitment to help stave off a financial crisis comes a week after the European Union made a similar pledge of 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion) to strengthen Ukraine’s economy.

European Council President Donald Tusk said on January 13 that Ukraine could also expect more humanitarian aid to deal with its crisis.

Tusk also said the EU "must stay the course" with sanctions against Russia, at least until March.

19:20 13.1.2015

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16:31 13.1.2015

The latest from our News Desk on today's Ukraine bus tragedy:

Ukrainian authorities say 10 civilians have been killed and 13 wounded by a missile that hit a bus in eastern Ukraine.

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

Ukraine's military said the civilians were killed by Grad (Hail) rockets, one of which hit a bus.

It said the rockets were fired by pro-Russian separatist forces from a position in the town of Dokuchayevsk.

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

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

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.

15:53 13.1.2015

Here's a report from RFE/RL's news desk on Russian military developments with some relevance to Ukraine:

Russia has announced plans to strengthen its military capabilities on the annexed Crimean peninsula, in the Arctic, and in its westernmost territory -- the exclave of Kaliningrad.

General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said on January 13 that in 2015 "the Defense Ministry will focus its efforts on increasing the combat capabilities of its units and increasing combat strength in accordance with the military development plans.

"Special attention will be given to the groups in Crimea, the Kaliningrad region and the Arctic," Gerasimov said.

All three regions are the focus of tension or potential rivalry with the United States and NATO .

Russia's new military doctrine, signed by President Vladimir Putin in December, underlines the need to protect Russia's interests in the Arctic.

Like the previous doctrine, it identifies NATO expansion as a threat to Russian security.

Kaliningrad is sandwiched between EU and NATO members Poland and Lithuania.

Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last March in a move that severely strained Moscow's ties with the West.

Relations have been further damaged by Moscow's support for separatists in a deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.

(With reporting by ria.ru and Interfax)

15:40 13.1.2015

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