DAVOS, Jan. 25 – The further refusal of the state to support the metal sector could result in its collapse, as the present crisis is worse than the 2008 crisis, Industrial Union of Donbas (ISD) Chairman Serhiy Taruta said.

KIEV, Jan. 25 – The inflationary expectations of the heads of Ukrainian enterprises have been low for the third quarter in a row, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

DAVOS, Jan. 28 - Russian oil company Lukoil is holding negotiations with the Ukrainian government to remove technical obstacles preventing the start of its Odessa oil refinery, Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov told Interfax-Ukraine on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

KIEV, Jan. 28 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has lowered its long-term issuer credit and Ukraine national scale ratings on the Ukrainian city of Lviv to 'SD' (selective default) following the city's default on a coupon payment.

KIEV, Jan. 28 - Ukraine’s largest oil company, UkrNafta, said Thursday it will channel 800 million hryvnias, or $100 million, in dividends to Naftogaz Ukrayiny by February 5, the deadline by which Naftogaz must pay its monthly Russian natural gas bill.

KIEV, Jan. 27 – At present some 20 billion cubic meters of natural gas is stored in Ukrainian underground storage facilities, which is 15% down compared to late December 2009, when some 23.5 billion cubic meters of gas was stored, Bohdan Sokolovsky, a presidential envoy for international energy security, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

KIEV, Jan. 27 - Ukraine plans to borrow on the foreign market in April-May and has already begun talks on the matter, acting Finance Minister Ihor Umansky said.

"Perhaps we will manage to do it in the first quarter. But in April-May we definitely can and will get to foreign markets," he said. "We already have proposals from a host of investment banks and funds," he told journalists in Kiev on Wednesday.

LVIV, Jan. 28 - Lviv Bus Plant, part of the LAZ Holding, on Jan. 26 resumed operations.

Its director general, Serhiy Chelyapin, said at a press conference on Tuesday that due to the difficult situation at the plant, its leadership decided to reorganize its work.

KIEV, Jan. 28 – Britain's Regal Petroleum Plc has started drilling at the Mekhedivska-Holotovschynska field, using two new deep drilling machines.

According to the company, a LEWCO 2000HP drilling machine now in use has a capacity of 2,000 liters and a carrying capacity of 500 tons, which allows the drilling of vertical wells up to 8,000 meters deep, as well as horizontal downgrade drilling.

KIEV, Jan. 25 - The Nuclear Fuel of Ukraine State Concern will be created in tandem with the liquidation of Ukratomprom Concern, according to Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Nedashkovsky.