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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

07:53 11.12.2014

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10:27 11.12.2014

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaking at a news conference in Melbourne, Australia, today:

Abbott: "Australia is an energy super power and energy security is very important to Ukraine, particularly given its current vulnerability to supply shocks. This would be good should we be able to bring it about for jobs and prosperity in Australia as well as for jobs and prosperity in Ukraine."

Abbott: "The side we take is the side of freedom, democracy and self-determination. That's the side we take. And plainly, freedom, democracy and self-determination are currently at risk in parts of eastern Europe."

Poroshenko: "The whole world is together with Ukraine and Russia stays in isolation. That means that the hundreds of millions of dollars they spend on the information war is not effective. Because the truth is with us."

10:51 11.12.2014

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11:11 11.12.2014

From our news desk:

The Russian central bank has raised its key interest rate by a full percentage point, to 10.5 percent, in an effort to bolster the falling ruble and slow price increases.

The increase, announced on December 11, came as the bank predicted inflation would reach 10 percent by the end of the year due to the plunging ruble and that gross domestic product growth would be flat through 2016.

The ruble and Russia's energy-reliant economy have been battered for months by falling world oil prices and sanctions imposed by the United States, the EU, and other countries over Moscow's interference in Ukraine.

The bank has nearly doubled the interest rate since March, the month Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, when it was set at 5.5 percent.

The ruble has lost about 40 percent of its value this year. (AFP and Interfax)

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