ODESSA, Oct 28 - The Odessa city elections commission has declared incumbent Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov the winner in the mayoral elections, even though Odessa regional administration chief Mikheil Saakashvili had suggested earlier that Trukhanov and his main rival would have to run in a second round.

KIEV, Oct. 28 - The U.S. administration's decision to give $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine is “a vote of confidence” the country will go ahead with reforms, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said.

KIEV, Oct. 26 – Flights between Ukraine and Russia stopped at 00:00 on October 25.

Ukraine's Minister of Infrastructure Andriy Pyvovarsky said on the sidelines of the Ukrainian-German Business Forum in Berlin on October 23 that the sanctions imposed on Russian airlines which had violated the laws of Ukraine would come into force on October 25.

KIEV, Oct. 26 – Canada is interested in boosting cooperation with Ukraine in the defense industry, and the two sides are in talks about the development of bilateral military-technical cooperation, Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine Roman Waschuk said.

KIEV, Oct. 28 - Ukraine and Latvia will strengthen trading cooperation between the two countries in connection with the free trade area (FTA) between Ukraine and the European Union which enters into force on January 1, 2016, President Petro Poroshenko said.

KIEV, Oct. 28 – U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden is going to pay a visit to Ukraine in the second half of November, the presidential press service said.

The announcement comes a day after President Petro Poroshenko had a phone conversation with Biden.

The parties discussed the visit of Biden to Ukraine planned for the second part of November.

BRUSSELS, Oct. 28 - The European Commission remains committed to supporting Ukraine in its difficult economic situation and said is preparing new measures.

KIEV, Oct. 28 - Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk on Tuesday held a meeting with U.S. Senator and Deputy U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman James Inhofe during which the two discussed energy security and the strengthening of military cooperation, the Ukrainian government's press service reported.

KIEV, Oct. 28 - President Petro Poroshenko talked on the phone with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, during which the two discussed the forming of a coalition at the new Ukrainian parliament and the provision of macro-financial assistance to Ukraine.

KIEV, Oct. 28 - Ukraine is unlikely to receive a second tranche of a $17-billion loan program from the International Monetary Fund this year as expected, Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.