KIEV, Dec. 20 - Lukoil, Russia??™s largest oil company, will restart its Ukrainian oil refinery in Odessa in August 2007 after completing the first stage of $320 million modernization, a government official said Wednesday.

KIEV, Dec. 20 ??“ Sokrat Investment and Financial Group, which is lead managing a tender for the sale of 32.86% of Galychyna oil refinery, does not rule out that the Continium Business Group, which controls 41%, may block or foil the sale.

KIEV, Dec. 20 ??“ Personal City Communications (Citius trademark,) a leading fixed-line communications provider in Kiev, plans to launch cable television services in 2006.

KIEV, Dec. 20 ??“ The Fuel and Energy Ministry has requested that regional administrations and oil refining companies continue to honor agreements on fuel prices reached by the Cabinet of Ministers and oil companies this September, the ministry??™s official website reports.

KIEV, Dec. 20 ??“ The first Ukrainian-Russian An-148 pilot jet took off in Kiev on Friday. The plane's maiden flight lasted a bit longer than an hour.

KYIV, Nov 20 – The environmental damage caused by Russia during 1,000 days of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine is estimated at approximately $71 billion, according to Ukraine's Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Svitlana Hrynchuk. She made this statement at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku.

KYIV, Nov 20 – The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has prohibited the use of foreign currency loans to purchase securities denominated in foreign currencies and has introduced stricter conditions for partial dividend repatriation.

KYIV, Nov 20 – The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Raiffeisen Bank (Kyiv) have announced the creation of two new risk sharing frameworks (RSF) for a total amount equivalent to approximately $210 million, the financial institution’s website reported on Wednesday.

KYIV, Nov 17 – Ukraine needs to implement a number of projects in the next five or 10 years to increase the capacity and flexibility of the energy system, the volume of investments in which will be about $15 billion, Board Chairman of Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytsky has said.

KYIV, Nov 17 – The Cabinet of Ministers approved raising a grant in the amount of $260 million, a loan from the World Bank worth $1.1 billion and from the European Investment Bank in the amount of EUR 162 million for reconstruction programs, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.