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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

14:18 15.1.2015

Here's an update from RFE/RL's news desk:

The Ukrainian parliament has approved a plan to mobilize soldiers in three waves this year amid a continuing conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the country's east.

In a 268-1 vote on January 15, lawmakers endorsed a decree from President Petro Poroshenko on the plan.

The first wave of mobilization is to begin on January 20, the second in April, and the last in June.

Addressing parliament, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said Ukraine "ought to give priority to patriotic citizens who are ready to defend their country voluntarily."

He also warned of a "full-fledged continental war" if the rebels, backed by Russia, launch an attack on Ukrainian positions.

Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said last week that he hopes to recruit 104,000 soldiers by the mobilization this year.

(dpa, Interfax, TASS)

14:12 15.1.2015

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11:19 15.1.2015
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov

Ukraine Steps Up Mobilisation, Warns Of Renewed Russian "Aggression"

KIEV, Jan 15 (Reuters) -- Ukraine's parliament voted on Thursday to refresh its front-line forces and resume partial conscription after a top security official warned that Russian forces backing separatist rebels had sharply increased military activity in the east.

"Russian aggression is continuing. There has been a significant surge in the intensity of firing," Oleksander Turchynov, secretary of the national defence council, told parliament, adding that 8,500 Russian regular forces were now deployed in eastern Ukraine.

Two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and four wounded on Wednesday when Ukrainian positions were fired on 129 times, which Turchynov said was a record for this year so far.

The warning of increased military activity by Russian forces also followed the shelling of a passenger bus on Tuesday at an army checkpoint in which 12 civilians were killed. Kiev blamed the separatists for the attack but they denied responsibility.

Despite what the West and Kiev say is incontrovertible evidence, Moscow denies it has any troops in the east of Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists are fighting government forces in a conflict in which more than 4,700 people have been killed.

Ukraine's parliament supported a decree of President Petro Poroshenko to swap out long-serving troops at the front and to bring in veterans from the reserve as well as resume partial conscription.

Ukraine scrapped compulsory military call-up in 2013 before the ousting of a pro-Moscow president, Viktor Yanukovich, which sparked the confrontation with Russia.

"There is an urgent need to strengthen the combat and mobilisation readiness of our forces and other military forces up to a level which guarantees an adequate reaction to threats to national security from continuing Russian aggression," Turchynov said.

11:17 15.1.2015

10:50 15.1.2015

10:48 15.1.2015

By RFE/RL's Georgian Service

TBILISI -- Georgian authorities say a man from the South Caucasus nation has been killed fighting in eastern Ukraine.

On January 15, the Foreign Ministry confirmed earlier reports saying that a Georgian national was killed in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where government forces are fighting pro-Russian separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 4,700 people since April.

Ministry officials identified the Georgian as Shalva Bukhaidze, 30.

They did not say which side he fought on.

Reports have said that there are many volunteers from former Soviet republics fighting on both sides in the conflict in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Last week, authorities in Tajikistan said one of its citizens was killed fighting alongside the separatists, who Kyiv and NATO say have direct military support from Russia.

In December, a court in Kazakhstan sentenced a Kazakh citizen, Yevgeny Vdovenko, to five years in prison for fighting in Luhansk, also on the side of the separatists.

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