KIEV, May 18 – The Ad-hoc Committee of Noteholders to Ukraine, which unites the holders of Ukrainian bonds worth $8.9 billion, insists on talks on the restructuring of Ukrainian sovereigns in line with the proposal sent to Ukraine's Finance Ministry.

KIEV, May 18 - Foreign direct investment in Ukraine, apart from Crimea and Sevastopol and the eastern conflict zone, in the form of share capital as of April 1, 2015 amounted to $45.92 billion, which is $41.07 billion, or 10.2% or $4.65 billion less than at the beginning of the year, the State Statistics Service has said.

KIEV, May 19 – The decision to suspend the operation of the Brusnychka fresh market chain and Parallel-branded filling stations in the “anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone“ is linked to present circumstances and was made in line with the current corporate management system, System Capital Management told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, May 16 - The first stage of an inquiry into the companies owned by Serhiy Kurchenko is complete, said Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

MOSCOW, May 18 - Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrayiny, whose dispute with Gazprom over the price of gas may deteriorate into a gas transit crisis in two weeks' time, is pumping all of the imported Russian gas into underground storage facilities.

KIEV, May 19 - Frunze Plant (Kharkiv), a leading producer of perforated metal products in Eastern European and the CIS, announced it is fulfilling a first order for Germany to make perforated sheets for drying machines.

KIEV, May 19 – Stakhanov Ferroalloy Plant (Luhansk region), which lost power after gunmen deactivated transformers at its Almazna sub-station, is now receiving electricity through another branch and has resumed operation.

KHARKIV, May 16 – Another batch of melange, a toxic component of rocket fuel, which was stored in the warehouses of military unit A-2136 in Shevchenkove district, has been removed from Kharkiv region for disposal in Russia, Kharkiv Regional State Administration reported.

KIEV, May 16 – China's Tianjin Lishen Battery Joint-stock Co., Ltd plans to build a battery plant in Dnipropetrovsk region, and the Ukrainian partner of the project could be a large battery producer in Ukraine – Westa Corporation (Dnipropetrovsk), Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration reported.

KIEV, May 17 – Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has affirmed its 'B/B' long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Ukraine.

"The outlook remains negative," according to the report.

"We also affirmed the long-term Ukraine national scale rating at 'uaA-'," the agency said.