From Interfax:
A senior member of the parliament of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic on Saturday suggested that the contact group on eastern Ukraine meet on December 12 rather than on December 9 as announced earlier.
"I would like us to hold our next round of consultations in Minsk on Friday December 12," Denis Pushilin, deputy chairman of the Supreme Council, told Interfax.
Hollande said at the start of his meeting today with Putin that he hoped the meeting would help "rid ourselves of the walls that divide us." -- AP
West, Russia must stop new "walls" from coming up, Hollande tells Putin. -- AFP
French President Francois Hollande traveled to Moscow today, reportedly the first Western leader to travel there since the annexation of Crimea. But first, it appears, he spoke with Ukraine's president.
From our newsroom:
Russia's Gazprom has confirmed it has received a prepayment of $378 million from Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz for gas shipments in December.
Russia's Interfax news agency on December 6 quoted Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov saying the transfer had been made at 2:00 am local time.
Naftogaz said late on December 5 that it had transferred the amount.
The move paves the way for the first shipments since Moscow cut supplies in June in a dispute over prices and debts.
Russia wants Ukraine to pay for gas in advance.
According to the terms of a deal signed in October by Naftogaz and Gazprom, gas should flow from Russia to Ukraine within 48 hours from when the Russian firm receives the transfer.
Naftogaz did not say how much gas it planned to buy, but earlier the Energy Ministry said this could be about one billion cubic meters.
Cash-strapped Kyiv had delayed buying new supplies, but increasingly cold weather has forced it to draw down on severely depleted reserves.
Based on reporting by Interfax and Reuters
Barring any major developments, this concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Friday, December 5. Check back in this same space tomorrow for more continuing coverage.