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."
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)