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

10:45 18.12.2014

10:01 18.12.2014

We will be live blogging Putin's press conference from the Power Vertical Feed here.

09:50 18.12.2014

09:49 18.12.2014

Putin's annual marathon presser starting in 10 minutes.

09:24 18.12.2014

08:55 18.12.2014

08:51 18.12.2014

08:50 18.12.2014

08:37 18.12.2014

08:02 18.12.2014

Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this sanctions update from RFE/RL's news desk:

European Union leaders are expected to discuss tense relations with Russia during a summit starting today in Brussels.

No new sanctions are expected to be decided at the two-day summit, as the EU "is not in a hardening mindset," one diplomat told AFP news agency.

Another said, "We don't want to provoke Putin too much."

The EU and United States have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to Moscow's actions in Ukraine, where pro-government forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists since April.

EU leaders will also discuss a 315 billion euro ($392 billion) investment plan aimed at helping revive growth in the EU.

The summit will be the first one led by the newly appointed European Council president, former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

(AFP, euractiv.com, and the BBC)

Load more

XS
SM
MD
LG