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

10:01 12.12.2014

10:15 12.12.2014

10:41 12.12.2014

11:57 12.12.2014
Ukrainian military authorities' daily situation map.

11:58 12.12.2014

From our newsroom:

A Kazakh citizen prosecutors say fought alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine is being tried on charges of intentional and illegal participation in a military conflict abroad.

Yevgeny Vdovenko went on trial at Sary-Arqa District Court in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on December 12.

Prosecutors told the court that Vdovenko, 30, took part in military operations in Ukraine, used weapons, guarded checkpoints, and patrolled the city of Luhansk, one of two provincial capitals held by separatists whose conflict with government forces has killed 4,300 people since April.

Vdovenko was arrested in October and faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

He pleaded "partially guilty," saying that he did not go to Ukraine to kill people or overthrow a government.

"I went there to help the local people," he said.

Vdovenko served three years in jail between 2009 and 2012 for robbery and illegal weapons possession.

Based on reporting by KazTAG and Interfax

12:34 12.12.2014

12:50 12.12.2014

It seems the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" has now launched its own post office:

13:02 12.12.2014

13:21 12.12.2014

13:23 12.12.2014

Load more

XS
SM
MD
LG