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 05:05 CET

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

19:11 15.12.2014

Reuters quotes a Moscow resident, Nadezhda, talking about the fall of the ruble:

"I think it's all related to the sanctions they imposed on us. But it didn't impact us at all. We are optimists, we hope for the best."

19:05 15.12.2014

From our newsroom:

The lawyer for a Ukrainian Air Force pilot being held in Russia said his client had launched a hunger strike to protest a decision to deny her medical attention.

Mark Feigin said his client, Nadiya Savchenko, announced her hunger strike on December 15 via video conference with Feigin.

Savchenko said her hunger strike was meant to protest a decision denying her a meeting with an ear-nose-throat doctor due to concerns she might be going deaf.

Savchenko says she was captured in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists during fighting in June and transferred to Russian custody in July.

Russian authorities have charged her with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

In late October, a Moscow court ordered that she be held until the end of February while the investigation into her alleged crimes was being conducted.

Based on reporting by Interfax and RFE/RL

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From our newsroom:

A Kazakh citizen has been sentenced to five years in prison for fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The Sary-Arqa District Court in the Kazakh capital, Astana, found Yevgeny Vdovenko guilty of intentional and illegal participation in a military conflict abroad.

Vdovenko, 30, was arrested in October and went on trial on December 12.

Investigators say he 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 more than 4,700 people since April.

Vdovenko 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 Kazinform

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Here's some background on the detention of Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko.

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Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)