The latest on Zakharchenko's comments from our news desk:
The leader of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region has said that rebel forces will seek to take over the entire province and will not intiate peace talks with goverment forces.
The remarks by the leader of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, further clouded prosects for peace following days of intensified fighting in a conflict that has killed more than 4,800 people since April.
"We will advance to the very borders of the Donetsk Oblast," the Russian news agency Interfax quoted Zakharchenko as telling students in the rebel-held provincial capital on January 23.
He added that "if I see a threat from other sides, we will liquidate it," Interfax reported.
"From our side, there will be no more attempts to talk about a truce," Zakharchenko said.
Carl Schreck followed up yesterday on the picture circulated on social media that could show Russian troops in Ukraine.
"An American military specialist who saw photographs of the damage said he believed it was probably caused by “a 120mm mortar, of type 2B11”. The most common variant of this mortar munition is the so-called Sani (Sleigh), developed by the Soviet Union in 1981. The maximum range of such missiles is 4.7 miles, less than the nearest known Ukrainian military position.
Whichever way this attack is interpreted – as evidence of rebels shooting their own, or of pro-Ukrainian partisans operating within the city – it is certain to radicalise both sides further."
That closes the live blogging for tonight.
Sorry, just to clarify. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on January 22 that pro-Russian rebels had paid a "high price" for their escalating attacks on government troops across the separatist-controlled east. Not will pay a high price.