KIEV, Aug. 8 – Britain's JKX Oil & Gas plc has launched a new oil and gas well at the Ihnatovske field in Poltava region, the company reported Wednesday.

KIEV, Aug. 8 – Koktebel winery, one of Ukraine's largest wine and cognac producers, plans to launch a sparkling wine plant in Q2 2008, with an annual capacity of 5 million bottles.

KIEV, Aug. 9 – Donetsk-based System Capital Management (SCM), Ukraine's large managing company, has transferred a 36.33% stake in Northern Mining and Beneficiation Plant or Pivnichny GOK in Kryvy Rih in Dnipropetrovsk region to Metinvest Group, which manages the mining and metallurgic sector of SCM, according to a joint statement of SCM and Metinvest issued on Wednesday.

KIEV, Aug. 8 ??“ U.S. company Bunge Ltd. plans to commission a new oil extraction plant in Illichivsk port in early 2007.

KIEV, Aug. 8 - Ukraine's Agriculture Policy Minister Yuriy Melnyk says the issue of milk and meat exports to Russia is a priority.

WARSAW, Aug. 8 - Sarmatia, a Polish-Ukrainian joint venture designated to build the Polish part of the Odessa-Brody-Plock pipeline, said its business plan will be ready by the fall of 2006, a Sarmatia official said.

KIEV, Aug. 9 ??“ A Ukrainian official ruled out privatization of the country??™s natural gas pipelines in exchange for cheaper gas prices as has been recently suggested by Gazprom.

KIEV, Aug. 9 ??“ Antonov Airlines, Ukraine??™s heavy cargo airline, joined forces with its Russian competitor to create the world??™s largest airline that would control up to 56% of $500 million market for airlifting bulky cargo.

KIEV, Aug. 9 ??“ Ukraine??™s industrial output, led by steel and machinery sectors, has been increasing robustly due to strong external demand and may further boost the country??™s economic growth, an official said.

KIEV, Aug. 9 - Novokramatorsk Machine Works (Donetsk region), one of Ukraine's biggest heavy engineering enterprise, is finishing supplying the state enterprise Foundry Rolling Plant (Yartsevo, Moscow region, Russia) with double-strand plants as contracted.