KIEV, June 22 - Metal consumption in Ukraine fell 56.1% year-on-year in January-May to 1.79 million tons and imports plummeted 78% to 197,243 tons, Andriy Fedoseyev, president of the Ukrainian Metal Traders Association, told Interfax.

KIEV, June 23 – The storage of pornography for personal use or by medical specialists for medical purposes, may not be a reason for the institution of criminal proceedings under a recent law passed by Parliament.

LONDON, June 23 - Fitch Ratings has assigned Ukraine's upcoming five-year $500-million eurobond a 'BB-' rating, the agency said.

The rating is in line with Ukraine's Long-term foreign currency Issuer Default rating (IDR) of 'BB-' (BB minus) with Stable Outlook.

KIEV, June 23 – The realization of projects for the development of copper, gold and amber deposits along with hydrocarbon deposits are of top priority for the Environment Protection Ministry, said Environment Protection Minister Heorhiy Filipchuk.

KIEV, June 24 – Co-owners of Dnipropetrovsk-based PrivatBank have tried to receive the exclusive right to use the Pivdenny maritime oil terminal, Odessa-Brody oil pipeline and Brody linear operating dispatcher station to supply crude to the Drohobych and Nadvirna oil refineries, which are under their control, according to a report in the Ekonomicheskiye Izvestia newspaper published on Monday.

KIEV, June 24 – Oschadbank State Savings Bank of Ukraine dropped out of the top-10 largest Ukrainian banks in Q2, according to Anatoliy Huley, the bank’s chairman.

KIEV, June 24 – The stricter requirements on the formation of reserves for consumer credit risk by banks proposed by the National Bank of Ukraine could lead to a rise in the cost of consumer credits, according to experts polled by Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, June 24 - Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash is embroiled in a bitter divorce that could affect ownership rights over his multibillion-dollar commercial empire, including a company controlling natural gas supplies to Ukraine and the European Union, the Financial Times reported Friday.

MOSCOW, June 21 - Revenue at Ukrainian RadioSystems (URS), the Ukrainian subsidiary of Russia's VimpelCom, whose purchase in 2005 sparked a conflict among VimpelCom shareholders, turned out to be 76.7% less than the amount indicated in a business plan the company issued prior to the completion of the deal, Norway's Telenor, a shareholder in the Russian company, said in a statement.

KIEV, June 21 - The general tariff for natural gas deliveries via pipelines will grow in Ukraine by 4.7% from the current UAH 96.3 per 1,000 cubic meters (excluding VAT here and elsewhere) starting on July 1, 2007. The Ukrainian National Electrical Power Control Commission approved the tariff increase at a meeting on Thursday.