KIEV, July 5 - Yuriy Lutsenko, a popular former internal affairs minister, will lead a bloc of parties loyal to President Viktor Yushchenko for the Sept. 30 snap parliamentary election, leaders announced Thursday.

KIEV, July 5 - Ukraine has been considering a contingency plan for alternative supplies of crude to the country's largest oil refinery amid fears that Russian oil supplies may be suspended, a company official said Thursday.

KIEV, July 5 - Yuriy Boyko, the energy and fuel minister, was named a beneficiary of RosUkrEnergo, a controversial gas trader, among other assets worth billions of U.S. dollars, legal papers obtained by a newspaper showed Thursday.

KIEV, July 6 - Ukraine managed to accumulate more than 6.5 billion cu m of natural gas in its underground gas tanks so far this year, which is in line with a schedule, Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national oil and gas company, said Wednesday.

KIEV, July 5 ??“ Ukraine??™s consumer prices will probably accelerate in the second half of 2006 on the back of rises in service charges fuelled by higher energy costs, Economy Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said Wednesday.

KIEV, July 5 ??“ Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk on Wednesday rejected a request from Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national oil and gas company, for a $1 billion bail-out aimed at reducing debts and avoiding gas shortages.

KIEV, July 5 ??“ Ukraine will seek to secure supplies of at least 16.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Russia later this year to avoid looming gas shortages, a newspaper reported.

KIEV, July 5 ??“ The Regions Party, the largest opposition group, at a meeting Wednesday rejected a plan that had called for creating six special committees in Parliament to enable opposition lawmakers control the government.

KIEV, July 4 ??“ Deutsche Bank AG was picked by the government on Monday as the winner of a tender to lend $100 million for completing Kiev-Odessa highway, Transportation Minister Yevhen Chervonenko said.

KIEV, July 4 ??“ Ukraine will seek to maintain barter transactions in natural gas trading with Russia despite Russia??™s push for a switch to cash settlements, First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh said Monday.