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.
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.
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)