KIEV, July 8 – The basic rent rates for retail and office space in Kiev in the first quarter of 2009 reached the level of 2004-2005, Colliers International Managing Director in Ukraine Oleksandr Nosachenko said.

KIEV, July 7 – The recapitalization of three Ukrainian banks – Bank Kyiv, Rodovid Bank and Ukrgasbank - will be completed by the end of the week, allowing people to access 2 billion hryvnias in deposits, a central bank official said.

KIEV, July 7 – The European Commission has noted an improvement in the process of checking transport, goods and people on the Ukrainian-Moldavian border, according to an EC report.

KIEV, July 7 – The urgent development of the hydrocarbon potential of the Black Sea continental shelf would enable Ukraine to prevent the existing threat to its national security in the energy sector in the nearest future, National Security and Defense Council Secretary, Raisa Bohatyreva, said to Dzerkalo Tyzhdnia weekly newspaper.

KIEV, July 7 – Investors tended to leave open investment funds in June in the light of a fall in the PFTS index, according to the Ukrainian Association of Investment Business (UAIB).

KIEV, July 8 – The Ukrainian government has proposed to increase spending on the preparation of roads for the European Football Championship in 2012 by UAH700 million.

KIEV, July 8 - Ukrgazvydobuvannia, Ukraine's major gas extraction company, increased gas extraction in January to June by 0.6%, or by 44 million cubic meters compared to the same period in 2007, to 7.443 billion cubic meters.

KIEV, July 8 – Ukrenergo, the state enterprise which operates Ukraine’s long-distance and interstate power transmission lines, on June 27 stopped supplying electricity to Belarus, having switched off the 330 kV Chernobyl nuclear power station-Mozyr and Chernihiv-Gomel power transmission lines, Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Ministry spokesman Fant Di told Interfax-Ukraine.

SEVASTOPOL, July 8 - Moscow is interested in purchasing the Ukraine, an uncompleted missile cruiser, from Kiev, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said.

"We are working on the [Ukraine] cruiser with Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry is now looking seriously into this issue," Yekhanurov told journalists in Sevastopol.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's delegation visited Moscow for talks several days ago, the minister said.

KIEV, July 8 - Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national oil and gas company, on Tuesday denied reports it owes a $2 billion debt to RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-based Russian gas trader, for earlier natural gas supplies.