Accessibility links

Breaking News
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

09:02 12.12.2014

Here's U.S. President Barack Obama at a meeting yesterday with the President's Export Council, which serves as the principal national advisory committee on international trade:

"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not have good cards and he actually has not played them as well as, sometimes, the Western press seems to give him credit for. There has been an improvisational quality to this whole process because the situation in Ukraine actually took Russia by surprise. And, it is working for him, politically, domestically but profoundly damaging in terms of their economy long-term, not just short-term."

"Where Putin will succeed is if it creates a rift in the trans-Atlantic relationship. If you start seeing Europe divided from the United States, that would be a strategic victory and I am intent on preventing that. And, the way to prevent it is making sure that we are taking into account the very real economic impact on Europe from these sanctions, being measured in terms of how we apply them, and having some strategic patience."

"The notion that we can simply ratchet up sanctions further and further and further and then ultimately Putin changes his mind, I think is a miscalculation."

"What will, ultimately, lead to Russia making a strategic decision is if they recognize that Europe is standing with us, and will be in it for the long haul, and we are, in fact, patient. If they see that there aren't any cracks in the coalition, then, over time, you could see them saying that the costs to their economy outweigh whatever strategic benefits that they get."

09:26 12.12.2014

Unclear who "most sources" are:

09:34 12.12.2014
"Weeble" is already taken. (Plus, it doesn't fall down.)

09:45 12.12.2014

Not a new assertion, but it is important to note that no preliminary investigation that's been published so far has included the "Russian" part -- just "strong suspicion that a surface-to-air missile" brought it down. Although U.S. and German intelligence sources have suggested they believe it was Russian or pro-Russian forces who fired the missile.

09:52 12.12.2014

09:52 12.12.2014

09:53 12.12.2014

09:54 12.12.2014

09:59 12.12.2014

From our newsroom:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says there is a chance to end the war in eastern Ukraine and called for new peace talks.

Lavrov was speaking in Moscow on December 12, hours after Ukrainian President Petro Posrohenko said that a "real" cease-fire is now in place between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Lavrov said that "a chance to establish peace in Ukraine has emerged. It has been difficult, but a truce has been established, a cease-fire regime has been established."

He said, "We need to find a way to resume the work of the Contact Group" -- the mechanism for talks between representatives of Ukraine, the rebels, Russia, and the OSCE, which produced a September 5 agreement on a cedase-fire and steps toward peace.

Lavrov said there is now a "constructive base to move forward" on the "economic restoration" of the regions affected by the conflict and "establishing political dialogue that should eventually lead to a constitutional reform" in Ukraine.

Russia insists it supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine and has repeatedly called on Kyiv to establish direct dialogue with separatist authorities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Based on reporting by RIA Novosti, Reuters, and Interfax

10:01 12.12.2014
Sounds like a prank.

Load more

XS
SM
MD
LG