KIEV, Jan. 8 - An IMF team resumed talks in Kiev on Thursday that Ukraine's government hopes will lead to a bigger aid program, as billionaire financier George Soros urged the West to step up funding to the country, Reuters reported.

The International Monetary Fund's existing package is worth $17 billion. But Kiev, overseeing an economy already pushed close to bankruptcy by a pro-Russian separatist war in the east and now facing huge debt repayments, is anxious for the program to be expanded.