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)

January 20, 2015 04:05 GMT

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

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Barring any major developments, that concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for today. Check back tomorrow morning for more continuing coverage.

07:23 22.12.2014

Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item from RFE/RL's news desk on Alyaksandr Lukashenka's visit to Kyiv:

Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has vowed to help Ukraine as it struggles with pro-Russian rebels in the east and economic troubles.

The authoritarian Lukashenka met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on December 21.

According to the Belarusian state news agency Belta, Lukashenka said: "I want everything in Ukraine to be good."

"If something is needed from Belarus, say so, and we will do it all for you in a day," Lukashenka was quoted as saying.

Minsk hosted talks in September that led to a cease-fire agreement.

Analysts say Lukashenka may fear a repeat in his country of the protests in Ukraine that led to the ouster in February of former President Viktor Yanukovych, a close ally of Moscow.

But Lukashenka also has stalled on a Russian initiative to form a union state with Belarus.

(AP)

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08:11 22.12.2014

As our news desk reports, it seems Alyaksandr Lukashenka is not the only authoritarian leader willing to lend a hand in Ukraine:

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has stated he is ready to act as an "honest mediator" to help resolve the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

Nazarbaev said he could act as an honest peace broker because Kazakhstan has good relations with both Ukraine and Russia, which is accused of fomenting the unrest in eastern Ukraine with weapons and soldiers, a charge Moscow denies.

Nazarbaev also promised help for Ukraine and bolstered his statement by calling for Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity to be ensured.

Nazarbaev was speaking in Astana yesterday, on the eve of a visit to Ukraine.

In Kyiv today, Nazarbaev is due to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Yesterday, Poroshenko met with visiting Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who vowed to help Ukraine as its struggles with pro-Russian rebels and economic troubles brought on by the crisis.

(Interfax, TASS, AFP)

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Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)