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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

15:21 18.1.2015

Oliver Carroll has been all over events at Donetsk airport this weekend.

15:20 18.1.2015

15:20 18.1.2015

15:00 18.1.2015

"Unity" march, but still...

14:52 18.1.2015

14:35 18.1.2015

14:34 18.1.2015

14:32 18.1.2015

13:45 18.1.2015

From our newsroom:

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Kyiv will reassert control over the country's eastern region, where fighting intensified between government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels over the weekend.

Poroshenko told a several thousand-strong peace rally in central Kyiv on January 18 that Ukraine would not "give up an inch" of its land to the separatists.

Meanwhile, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Ukrainian troops launched a "mass operation" overnight and retook almost all the territory of Donetsk airport lost to separatists in recent weeks.

The army's offensive at the airport brought the fighting close to the city of Donetsk itself.

Local residents reported intensified shelling, including from residential areas in central parts of Donetsk, a key separatist stronghold.

Four Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 32 injured in the past 24 hours, Lysenko said on January 18.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, Interfax, and unian.net

13:32 18.1.2015

As reports swirl suggesting Ukrainian forces have retaken Donetsk airport, here's something from our archive that highlights the importance of what has become a towering symbol in the current conflict.

Despite Cease-Fire, Fight Continues For Donetsk Airport

The damaged main terminal of the Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev International Airport back in early October
The damaged main terminal of the Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev International Airport back in early October

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