KIEV, Oct. 8 – The business community is alarmed at the absence of appointments of head of the State Service for Medicinal Products and Drug Control and director general of the state expert center of the Health Ministry.

KIEV, Oct. 8 - Ukraine resumed imports of European natural gas via Hungary for the first time since July 1, UkrTransGaz, the state gas shipping company, reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 - The United States warned on Thursday that it would maintain economic sanctions imposed on Russia over its intervention in Ukraine until the terms of a peace plan are fully implemented, AFP reported.

KIEV, Oct. 7 – Nearly two million Ukrainians have quit smoking over last six years, former Health Minister Mykola Polischuk reported.

"We've seen a reduction of the death rate in Ukraine. This is due to Ukrainians starting to pay more attention to a healthy way of life, in particular, starting to smoke less. Approximately 1.7 to 2 million of people have quit smoking over the last six years," he said at a press conference in Kiev.

KRAKOW, Oct. 7 – President Viktor Yanukovych and his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski have signed a cooperation program between Ukraine and Poland for 2013-2015.

BALI, Oct. 8 - Russian banks have put together a credit of $750 million for Ukraine, and Gazprom has been pumping gas into Ukrainian underground storage facilities at a discounted rate of $260 per thousand cubic meters, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

KIEV, Oct. 8 – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday may have softened his stance against Ukraine’s plans for signing free trade and political association agreements with the European Union.

KIEV, Oct. 8 – President Viktor Yanukovych has signed a law on an economic experiment in state support for the shipbuilding industry passed by Parliament in September, reads a posting on the parliament's Web site issued on October 5, 2012.

KIEV, Oct. 8 – President Viktor Yanukovych faces a growing challenge from three opposition groups ahead of October 28 elections now that their combined popular support has for the first time outpaced support for his Regions Party.

KIEV, Oct. 6 - Ukraine is interested in securing foreign investment that could be used to fund the extraction of oil and natural gas in the Black Sea, President Viktor Yushchenko said.

"It is possible to address the topic of national oil and gas production. Ukraine cannot explore the depth exceeding 70-72 meters acting on its own," Yushchenko said at a meeting with representatives of the Horizon Capital company in Kiev.