From one of the Russian "volunteers" featured in the video report BBC Finds Russians Fighting In Eastern Ukraine:
"This is a holy war of the Russian people fighting for our future, for our ideals, for our children, and for our great country that 25 years ago was divided up into pieces."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, arguably straining credulity in remarks to journalists today, directly equated the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris with the violence in Ukraine:
"I do not see any difference between the terrorist attack [in Paris] and the explosion of a bar in Kharkiv, a terrorist attack against a volunteers' office in Odesa, or terrorist attacks taking place in the occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk," he said.
From our newsroom:
The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France plan to meet in Berlin next week as part of diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The January 12 meeting was agreed in a phone call on January 9 between the four countries’ foreign ministers.
A source in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry told Interfax news agency that the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France may also meet in the Kazakh capital, Astana, next week.
"If the foreign ministers reach certain agreements in Berlin on January 12, everything is possible," the source said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said four of its soldiers were killed in an upsurge in mortar and rocket attacks against army outposts.
Authorities in the rebel-held stronghold of Donetsk said two civilians died in clashes around the city's disputed airport.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, Interfax, and AP
From that Reuters report:
"While it may be too early to call this a humanitarian catastrophe, it's clearly progressing in that direction," [Denis Krivosheev, deputy director of Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International,] told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email.
The provision of humanitarian aid was being hampered by pro-Kiev volunteer battalions that were increasingly preventing food and medicine from reaching those in need in eastern Ukraine, he said.
"Attempting to create unbearable conditions of life is a whole new ballgame... using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime."
The battalions often act like "renegade gangs" and urgently need to be brought under control, Krivosheev added.