KIEV, June 6 - President Viktor Yushchenko met foreign diplomats on Wednesday to assure them that Parliament has no authority following his decree that has set early election on Sept. 30.

KIEV, June 6 ??“ A State Statistics Committee report showing a sharp increase in consumer prices last month has prompted expressions of concern by President Viktor Yushchenko and government officials about a possible resurgence in consumer inflation in 2007.

KIEV, June 5 ??“ Ukraine??™s Trade Union Federation, a body that is controlled by opposition Regions Party, warned Tuesday it will hold massive rally in June against a scheduled increase in natural gas and power prices.

AMSTERDAM, June 6 ??“ Ukraine will probably face a shortage of natural gas when high demand season begins in October, Alexei Miller, CEO of Gazprom, Russia??™s gas monopoly, said Tuesday.

KIEV, June 6 ??“ Three pro-Western parties, which are trying to form the new government in Ukraine, made a significant progress in talks on Tuesday at a meeting with President Viktor Yushchenko, an official said.

KIEV, June 6 ??“ Parliament of Crimea, Ukraine??™s autonomous republic, voted Tuesday to declare the region ???a NATO-free territory,??? a move that sharply escalates tensions between the region and the central government in Kiev.

KIEV, June 3 ??“ Naftogaz Ukrayiny hopes to continue the direct purchase of natural gas from Turkmenistan through 2007, Naftogaz Chairman Oleksiy Ivchenko said in Kiev on Friday.

KIEV, June 3 - Ukraine may start moving Caspian Sea crude via the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to Europe by early next year, Oleksiy Ivchenko, the head of Naftogaz Ukrayiny, said Friday.

KIEV, June 3 ??“ Ukraine??™s consumer inflation slowed down in May and was lower than the government had expected despite rising social payments that had been feared to be a possible trigger for a price hike.

TBILISI, June 3 ??“ Ukraine challenged Russia on Friday by refusing to sign an accord that had anticipated a slow deregulation of trade within the Commonwealth of Independent States, instead calling for a much faster action.