KIEV, Oct. 5 – Opposition party Udar, led by heavyweight boxing champion Vitaliy Klichko, increased popular support in September to become the second most popular party in Ukraine ahead of the October 28 vote, an opinion poll shows.

KIEV, Oct. 5 – Ukrainian rescuers are ready to assist Hungary respond to a toxic mud leak at an alumina plant.

"On the instruction of acting Emergencies Minister Mykhailo Bolotskykh, an operative group was formed that would calculate the forces which, if needed, would depart to Hungary to give assistance. The Hungarian government have not asked us [for help] yet," the Emergencies Ministry said on Tuesday.

KIEV, Oct. 6 – Now that another increase of social standards has gone into effect as of Oct. 1, the average pension in Ukraine is UAH 1,103, Labor and Social Policy Minister Vasyl Nadraha reported.

PARIS, Oct. 7 - Ukraine is prepared to consider ways to work with Russia in the field of natural gas, especially in extraction in Russia and delivery to Ukraine, the country's President Viktor Yanukovych said in an interview with the French paper le Figaro.

PARIS, Oct. 7 – The improvement of cooperation between Ukraine and Russia will do no harm to the rapprochement between Kiev and the European Union, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said in an interview with French Le Figaro newspaper before his visit to Paris.

KIEV, Oct. 7 – President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday traveled to Paris for a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy amid growing international concerns that Ukraine may try to re-privatize ArcelorMittal’s largest Ukrainian steelmaker.

KIEV, Oct. 7 – President Viktor Yanukovych’s powers appear set to further increase to gain total and unilateral control over law enforcement agencies in Ukraine as a result of legislation approved in Parliament on Thursday.

KIEV, Oct. 6 – Space issues are to be the focus of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's visit to Ukraine, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said during a meeting with National Space Agency of Ukraine Chief Oleksandr Zinchenko in Kiev.

KIEV, Oct. 7 – The Ukrainian cabinet has selected the Environment Protection Ministry as the key manager of funds received from the sale of emission quotas as a part of the Kyoto protocol, and the National Agency for Ecological Investments has been appointed second-tier manager.

MOSCOW, Oct. 7 – Russian gas giant Gazprom on Wednesday pledged to enforce an agreement according to which Ukraine has to import 52 billion cubic meters of gas in 2010, almost twice as much as the country needs.