KIEV, Aug. 10 - Ukraine is committed to cooperation with the International Monetary Fund in reforming the energy sector, including hiking natural gas prices for households, the government said on Tuesday.

KIEV, Aug. 10 – Ukraine will repay by the end of the year the $2 billion mystery loan it borrowed from Russia in June, according to a memorandum released by the International Monetary Fund.

KIEV, Aug. 9 - Ukraine has extinguished a large fire in the Dniptropetrovsk region that had been raging on an area of 500 hectares since Aug. 4, the Emergency Situations Ministry reported on Monday.

The country has reported 579 fires since Sunday, in which four people have died, Itar-Tass reported.

KIEV, Aug. 10 – Fitch Ratings says it would not view a forced debt restructuring of Ukraine's state energy firm, OJSC Naftogaz ('CC'/Rating Watch Negative), as a sovereign default event, although the agency acknowledges there could be negative implications for investor sentiment towards the country.

KIEV, Aug. 10 - The National Bank of Ukraine plans to conduct a tougher monetary policy than that contained in the International Monetary Fund’s stand-by program, said bank First Deputy Chairman Anatoliy Shapovalov.

KIEV, Aug. 10 – Arseniy Yatseniuk, a popular presidential candidate, said Monday his campaign activists have come under several attacks across Ukraine over the weekend, raising fears the presidential election in January 2010 may get ugly.

KIEV, Aug. 7 - The National Bank of Ukraine would be well advised to consider cutting the discount rate to 10.75% from the current 11%, said Valeriy Lytvytsky, the head of the group of advisors to the bank.

KIEV, Aug. 7 – President Viktor Yushchenko said he is satisfied with the development of relations between Ukraine and the United States.

"In our opinion, these relations [between Ukraine and the United States] are developing very dynamically. We have clear objectives for these relations," he said at a meeting with a visiting delegation of U.S. Congressmen in Kiev on Friday.

KIEV, Aug. 7 – Measures taken by the Ukrainian authorities against price hikes and an improvement in the business climate could boost Ukraine's country rating from international rating agency Standard & Poors, says Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn.

KIEV, Aug. 7 - Humanitarian aid provided by the Japanese government for the cleanup of the flood aftermath in Ukraine's western regions arrived at Boryspil Airport early on Thursday.