NEW YORK (UN), Sept. 4 - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed a telephone conversation between Russian and Ukrainian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko regarding a step-by-step plan towards peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, UN Secretary-General spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

KIEV, Sept. 4 - Ukraine plans to store up to 17.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in its underground storage facilities by October 15 to ensure steady Russian gas supplies to Europe in the winter, the energy and coal industry ministry said Thursday.

The suggested amount is less than the 20 billion cu m that Russian gas giant Gazprom has repeatedly said over the past several years is needed to ensure steady gas transit to Europe via Ukrainian gas pipelines.

NEWPORT, Sept. 4 - NATO's top official accused Moscow outright on Thursday of attacking Ukraine as allied leaders gathered for a summit to buttress support for Kiev and bolster defenses against a Russia they now see as hostile for the first time since the Cold War, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Sept. 4 - President Petro Poroshenko and the main pro-Russian rebel leader said they would both order ceasefires on Friday, provided that an agreement is signed on a new peace plan to end the five-month war in Ukraine's east, Reuters reported.

BRUSSELS, Sept. 3 – The Foreign Ministers of the Nordic-Baltic Eight (NB8) have issued a joint statement to express their full support to the signing of an Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine.

KIEV, Sept. 4 – Parliament on Thursday is expected to approve five bills that are aimed at bringing Ukraine closer to signing landmark agreements with the European Union in November, lawmakers said Wednesday.

KIEV, Sept. 4 – Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, on Tuesday resumed its decline against the U.S. dollar amid speculation the National Bank of Ukraine had been quietly injecting billions of hryvnias into the system.

KIEV, Sept. 1 - Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's defense team has expressed outrage over a court ruling denying a motion to attach documents proving, in their view, her innocence in the case dealing with 2009 Ukrainian-Russian gas supply agreements.

KIEV, Sept. 1 - Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski's warning that former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's trial could obstruct Ukraine's integration into the European Union is not the entire European Union's position, said Ukrainian parliamentarian Ivan Popesku of the Party of Regions.

KIEV, Sept. 1 – Ukraine has recognized the National Transition Council of Libya as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people.