Latest from our news desk:
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says Kyiv must pay for natural gas deliveries that are being sent by Gazprom directly to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
In a comment posted to his Facebook page on February 20, Medvedev said “existing contractual obligations” require that Ukraine pay for the shipments.
Gazprom started shipping gas directly to separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine on February 19 after Medvedev ordered his Energy Ministry to work out a supply plan as “humanitarian aid.”
But Andriy Kobolev, the head of Ukraine’s state-run Naftogaz, said on February 19 that the shipments violate Ukraine’s contract with Gazprom and that Kyiv would not pay for the deliveries because Naftogaz cannot take in and control the process.
Gazprom chief Aleksei Miller says the shipments are passing through the Prokhorovka and Platovo gas metering stations on Russia's border with the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
More on the Hollande-Merkel presser:
The French president says he and the German chancellor are “more convinced than ever” that the Minsk agreements aimed at putting an end to fighting in Ukraine should be fully implemented.
Francois Hollande spoke at a joint press conference with Angela Merkel in Paris on February 20.
He said, "The cease-fire has been violated several times. It must now be fully respected along the entire front line."
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he would meet with his Russian, German, and Ukrainian counterparts in Paris on March 3 to discuss the Ukraine conflict.
Fighting between Russian-backed separatists and government forces continued in eastern Ukraine after Hollande and Merkel brokered the cease-fire deal signed in the Belarusian capital last week.
Ukraine's military said more than 20 Russian tanks, 10 missile systems, and bus-loads of fighters had crossed Ukraine's border in the past 24 hours.
Merkel and Hollande are talking to journalists in Paris right now. This is what they've said so far (from RFE/RL's news desk):
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it will be a "difficult task" to implement the Minsk agreements.
French President Francois Hollande says he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are more convinced than ever that the Minsk agreements must be implemented.
Hollande says he can’t confirm that Russian tanks have recently crossed the Ukrainian border.