Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (ARCHIVE)

The latest from our news desk on the talks that may or may not take place in Minsk today:

Ukraine hopes to hold truce talks on January 31 with pro-Russian separatists despite the rebels' vow to push their latest offensive in eastern Ukraine if the negotiations should fail.

The urgent new round of negotiations in Minsk that had been agreed for January 30 was postponed due to disagreements over who should represent the rebel camp.

Kyiv said it expected to send its envoy, former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, to Minsk on January 31 for the talks -- formally backed by the Kremlin -- aimed at reinforcing a shaky September truce which was reached also in Minsk.

Kuchma told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, "We expect to sign a document that reinforces the Minsk Memorandum [of September] and the peace plan of presidents [Petro] Poroshenko and [Vladimir] Putin."

On January 30, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reaffirmed that an "immediate ceasefire" was necessary in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department announced that Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Ukraine February 5 to show U.S. support for the government.

We put together these photos yesterday evening showing the civilian suffering in Donetsk as shells rain down.

Civilians Suffer, Again, As Shells Rain Down On Donetsk

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

The city administration in Donetsk, one of two separatist-held provincial capitals, said five people were killed when shells hit a cultural center on January 30 and that two others were killed when a shell hit a trolleybus. The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said that five of its soldiers were killed and 23 wounded in the previous 24 hours. It said rebels used mortars, rockets, and artillery in attacks on government positions at Debaltseve, a key junction between Donetsk and Luhansk. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian military of targeting civilian areas, while the government and rights groups say the separatists put civilians at risk by firing from civilian areas.

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Here's more on Savchenko from our news desk:

A lawyer for Nadia Savchenko, a Ukrainian military pilot who has been on a hunger strike in a Russian jail since mid-December, says a new charge has been filed against his client.

Savchenko's lawyer Ilya Novikov wrote on Facebook late on January 29 that she had been charged with illegal border crossing.

Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine in June and transferred to Russian custody in July.

She is charged with involvement in the deaths of two Russian journalists killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but says Russia has no right to prosecute her.

Also on January 29, Savchenko was transferred to a hospital ward at Moscow's notorious Matrosskaya Tishina detention center because of what Novikov cited medical personnel as saying was abrupt weight loss.

On Facebook, Novikov later posted a letter Savchenko addressed to a jailed Russian activist, Mark Galperin, in which she wrote that she feels "okay and will fight on."

She wrote that "Ukraine and Russia together will defeat the evil and shameful government."

Russian officials have rejected calls by Kyiv and the West for her release.

Good morning.

A few news items from overnight:

-- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Ukraine next week to show U.S. support for the government as fighting spikes with pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.

-- A lawyer for Nadia Savchenko, a Ukrainian military pilot who has been on a hunger strike in a Russian jail since mid-December, says a new charge has been filed against his client.

Barring any major developments, that ends the live blogging for today.

Our D.C. correspondent Carl Schreck flagged this. Are Russian rebels standing up the Contact Group?

The Special Representative of the CiO to the Trilateral Contact Group, Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, wishes to emphasize that her representatives have been waiting in Minsk since yesterday morning in order to prepare for a meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group with representatives from certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk.

That last tweet was referring to Svetlana Davydova. We wrote about her here.