MOSCOW, Oct. 17 - Fitch Ratings has assigned VABank a B-(stable) issuer default rating and a short-term B rating, the agency announced.

KIEV, Oct. 18 - OAO Motor Sich in Zaporizhia, a large Ukrainian producer of airplane engines, could float 3%-5% of its shares in an initial public offering in the second quarter of 2007, Vyacheslav Bohuslayev, the company's co-owner and general director, said in an interview with the Kommersant-Ukraine newspaper.

LONDON, Oct. 18 - Royal Dutch/Shell seeks to invest in Ukrainian natural gas extraction and will soon hold a meeting with government officials to discuss the projects, President Viktor Yushchenko said Tuesday.

KIEV, Oct. 18 - Seventeen companies, including Ukraine's System Capital Management, have shown interest in buying from 51 to 74% of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC), a large Pakistani steel producer.

KIEV, Oct. 18 - Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national oil and gas company, is seeking approval from the government for export of up to 2.5 bln cubic meters of natural gas to Europe, Naftogaz chairman Oleksiy Ivchenko said Tuesday.

KYIV, Sept 17 – ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR) in Dnipropetrovsk region may further reduce steel production, halt iron ore supplies to China, and cut staff if negative market trends continue, according to the company's CEO, Mauro Longobardo, speaking at the European Business Association event "Global Outlook: Fostering Unity."

KYIV, Sept 17 – Naftogaz Ukrainy has increased its natural gas production this year and intends to survive the winter using only Ukrainian gas, having a reserve of gas purchased abroad using funds from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Board Chairman Oleksiy Chernyshov said on the sidelines of the 20th annual YES meeting organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv.

KYIV, Sept 14 – A field office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened in Kyiv on Thursday to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the ICC in investigation of war crimes committed by Russia, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin has said.

KYIV, Sept 14 - Ukrzaliznytsia transported 10.5% less cargo in January-August than in the same period last year - 94.9 million tons, said Valeriy Tkachev, the deputy director of the commercial work department.

KYIV, Sept 15 – Energoatom has sent the Canadian company CAMECO the first batch of uranium concentrate produced by VostGOK state enterprise, which will be used to produce nuclear fuel for the needs of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, the company’s press service reported.