Two more news stories from over night:
Ukrainian Police Blame Second Crimean Power Outage On Sabotage
Ukrainian police are blaming saboteurs yet again for blowing up an electricity pylon that shut down electricity for at least one quarter of the residents of Crimea.
A previous power outage in November in the peninsula annexed by Russia also was blamed on sabotage. None of the culprits were ever identified or prosecuted.
Police in Ukraine's Kherson region, which borders Crimea, said on December 31 that the only functional high-voltage line providing electricity to Crimea had been cut off by a blast. They said they are setting up a commission to investigate the matter.
Ukrainian electricity company Ukrenergo said it was working to quickly restore power.
Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov denounced the incident as a "terrorist attack."
The latest outage comes as the power supply contract between Ukrenegro and Crimea is expiring. Whether to renew the contract has become a politically charged question.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said December 31 that Kyiv was insisting that future contracts must refer to Crimea as "a territory of Ukraine," something Moscow does not accept.
Aksenov also ruled that out, saying, "I consider it unacceptable" and calling Ukrainian authorities "blackmailers and terrorists who lie to people saying that Crimea will return to Ukraine. This will never happen."
Novak said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an opinion poll to be conducted among Crimeans asking if they agreed to be considered part of Ukraine or would accept "temporary difficulties" for three or four months by refusing to renew the contract. Russia has promised to bring new power supplies by undersea cable in the spring.
Crimea, which before the annexation relied on Ukraine for at least 70 percent of its electricity, suffered a severe blackout at the end of November after unidentified saboteurs blew up pylons supplying it with power.
Russia at that time boosted its supplies to the region and flew in emergency generators. Power from Ukraine was only partially restored after a few weeks and has made up a smaller share of the peninsula's power supply since then.
Novak said Crimeans would be better off completely cutting the ties to Ukraine.
"Ukraine has for a long time disrespected the contract for power supplies to Crimea," he said. "We have seen electricity pylons blown up, some armed mavericks who allegedly did not allow repairs to them, and lots of other nonsense."
Crimea's fuel and power minister Svetlana Borodulina said the peninsula had lost at least one quarter of its power because of the latest cut-off.
The region, home to 2 million people, is now running on just 700 megawatts of electricity per day compared with between 950 to 1,000 megawatts per day before the outage, she said.
After the previous outage, Russia boosted supplies to the region to 400 megawatts per day by rushing to complete two undersea cables carrying power to the peninsula.
Officials and local residents said the problems caused by the incident were so far relatively minor.
However, in Sevastopol, authorities were forced to impose rolling blackouts cutting electricity every three hours to save power.
Borodulina advised Crimean residents to economize on electricity and take precautions such as preparing meals for New Year celebrations early, as intermittent power cuts were expected.
Russia aims to complete two more undersea cables in the spring, with the goal of making Crimea independent of Ukrainian electricity.
Ukrainians Debating Whether To Celebrate Christmas On December 25
Ukrainians are debating a petition to celebrate Christmas on December 25, like western Europe, rather than continuing to mark the holiday on January 7 according to Orthodox Christian tradition.
The debate reflects the tug of war between east and west over the nation's identify that has resulted from Ukraine's falling out with Russia since Moscow annexed Crimea and backed a separatist war in the east in 2014.
Activists in favor of making the official holiday December 25, which is currently an ordinary working day in Ukraine, have started two petitions on the presidential web site.
If they garner enough support, President Petro Poroshenko will have to consider making the change, though the Ukrainian parliament would have the final say.
Oleksandr Turchynov, the head of Ukraine's security council, says he backs the idea because it would align Ukraine with "the majority of civilized countries." He has suggested a transition period during which Ukrainians could celebrate Christmas on both dates.
Good morning. The big news this morning is that the EU-Ukraine free trade deal has come into force:
Ukraine's free-trade agreement with the European Union came into force on January 1, coinciding with the start of Moscow's food embargo against Kyiv.
The free-trade deal, signed in June 2014, is part of the broader EU Association Agreement and stands at the heart of the drastic deterioration of Ukraine's relations with Russia.
The deal grants Ukraine tariff-free access to the EU's giant market and is expected to boost Ukraine's struggling economy.
The European Commission said in a statement of December 31 that "the agreement will contribute to the modernization and diversification of the Ukrainian economy and will create additional incentives for reform."
Ukraine, whose market has been traditionally oriented toward Russia, will now have to turn itself toward the European market and adapt to EU standards and rules.
Russia, furious at seeing its Soviet-era satellite turn to the West, has long been critical of the trade deal.
An initial attempt to finalize the pact had failed in 2013, sparking protests in Kyiv that led to the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russian president, followed by Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, and a Russian-backed separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has taken retaliatory measures, suspending its free-trade agreement with Ukraine and banning the import of Ukrainian food.
Based on reporting by AFP and dpa
We are closing the live blog a little early today. To all our readers, we wish you a happy, healthy, and peaceful new year.
Here's today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, courtesy of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE):
