KIEV, Feb. 5 - The European Union is ready to assign its senior officials as intermediaries in crisis settlement negotiations between the Ukrainian authorities and the opposition, opposition UDAR party leader Vitali Klitschko said after he met with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Commission Vice-President Catherine Ashton.

KIEV, Feb. 5 - Ukraine does not expect Russia to increase natural gas prices this year despite recent political disagreements, acting Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytskiy said Wednesday.

KIEV, Feb. 5 - The confrontation between opposition-led protesters and the government of President Viktor Yanukovych, and a refusal to agree on a compromise, is weighing on the Ukrainian economy, acting Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov said on Wednesday.

KIEV, Feb. 5 – President Viktor Yanukovych will make an official visit to Lithuania on February 6 in order to participate in the sixth meeting of the Council of Presidents of Ukraine and Lithuania, said Serhiy Liovochkin, the head of the presidential administration.

KIEV, Feb. 5 – Opposition groups, flexing their political muscle, on Tuesday blocked the work of Parliament in a standoff with the ruling Regions Party, signaling major hurdles for the government in getting its legislation approved.

KIEV, Feb. 3 – President Viktor Yanukovych has signed a decree appointing Ihor Kalinin as chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the presidential press service reported on Friday.

Under another decree, Kalinin was dismissed as head of the State Guard Department.

KIEV, Feb. 3– A number of European countries are receiving less natural gas than expected through the Ukrainian gas transport system due to a reduction in supplies by Russia's Gazprom, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Boyko said.

KIEV, Feb. 5 - Ukraine reduced imports of Russian natural gas Saturday and increased usage of gas coming from its underground gas storage facilities, helping European consumers get more Russian gas amid extremely cold weather.

KIEV, Feb. 2 – A list of all the IP addresses from which attempts to attack the Web site of the Ukrainian president were made has been passed to law enforcers, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, Feb. 2 – Ambassador of the United States to Ukraine John Tefft has passed to the State Ecological Inspectorate of Ukraine 13 radiation detectors worth some $203,000 for measuring electrical quantities and ionizing emissions.