We are closing the live blog a little early today. To all our readers, we wish you a happy, healthy, and peaceful new year.
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
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.
More on the Christmas debate from Reuters:
Latest
Russia says it's suing Ukraine for defaulting on a $3 billion Eurobond debt owed to Moscow.
Russia's Finance Ministry said in a statement on January 1 that Kyiv is "in a state of default" regarding its obligations toward Moscow and legal proceedings would ensue.
The ministry said it is filing a lawsuit against Ukraine with a British court.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said on December 18 a "moratorium" on any debt repayments to Russia. He did not indicate when Ukraine would be ready to repay the debt, which matured in December.
The debt stems back to 2013 when Russia loaned $3 billion to the Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych, before pro-European protests that led to his downfall.
Kyiv says it is not a sovereign loan by one state to another but rather a transaction made via the financial markets that is subject to terms agreed with other creditors.
In August, Kyiv reached a restructuring deal with private creditors, including major banks, which agreed to reduce their claim by 20 percent.
Moscow insists that the loan cannot be considered private debt and has refused such conditions.
Relations between the two neighbors soured after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 and threw its backing behind separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian leaders have accused Moscow of sending troops and weapons to the east, a claim the Kremlin has denied.
Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax
Reported truce violations in eastern Ukraine:
The Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine accused each other on January 1 of violating a shaky holiday truce between the warring sides.
Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian army positions in Donbas came under attacks 22 times, including assaults by mortars and grenade launchers, the Ukrainian military said.
The army said there were no casualties among the Ukrainian forces.
The separatists said one "serviceman" was killed in the early hours on January 1 as Ukrainian forces shelled the Donetsk airport and the Kominterenovo village.
The separatists claimed Ukrainian forces had breached the cease-fire 11 times over the past 24 hours, including with shelling of residential areas that damaged five private houses.
Kyiv and the separatists reached an agreement for a truce during the Christmas and New Year holidays that went into effect at midnight on December 22.
Most Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia celebrate Christmas on January 7.
However, the warring sides accused each other of breaching the truce within hours after it came into effect.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned that the holiday cease-fire is becoming "increasingly fragile," and urged both sides to stick with their pledges to stop the war, at least temporarily.