We'll conclude today's live blogging with this video report from our Ukrainian Service produced by Shahida Yakub.
In December, a family in eastern Ukraine was torn apart by fighting between government troops and separatists rebels. Baby Nika and her brother Vitya lost their mother and their home in a shell attack. The children's aunt is now taking care of them and her own young children as they struggle to put their lives back together:
Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
It’s one of the greatest war crimes of modern times – and the truth still hasn’t been told. On July 17th 2014 at about 16:20 local time, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine. All 298 passengers died, including many children. Who fired the missile? Over several months the Berlin-based investigative newsroom CORRECT!V has gathered facts, investigated in eastern Ukraine and Russia, and found witnesses to the missile launch. The investigation unveiled a clear chain of evidence. MH17 was downed by a ground-launched BUK missile – launched by a unit of the 53rd Russian Air Defense Brigade from Kursk. The brigade unit, tasked with protecting Russian tank units, was operating in mid July on Ukrainian territory without displaying national emblems.
As we noted earlier, Fitch cuts Russia's credit rating to step above junk:
The international ratings agency Fitch Ratings has cut Russia's credit rating to the lowest investment grade after plummeting oil prices and the Ukraine conflict triggered the worst currency crisis since 1998.
Fitch announced on January 9 it had lowered its rating for Russian government debt to BBB-, just one notch above junk level.
It added a negative outlook on the rating, saying, "The economic outlook has deteriorated significantly since mid-2014 following sharp falls in the oil price and the ruble, coupled with a steep rise in interest rates."
Standard & Poor's cut Russia's credit rating to BBB- in April.
The world's biggest energy exporter is on the brink of a recession after crude prices fell more than 50 percent since June and the West imposed sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea in March. (AFP, Bloomberg.com, TASS)