KIEV, May 30 – The National Bank of Ukraine has been under political pressure to sharply appreciate the hryvnia against the U.S. dollar as a measure to fight inflation, President Viktor Yushchenko said Friday.

KIEV, June 1 - More U.S. troops were airlifted to Crimea on Thursday to prepare for a joint NATO-Ukrainian military exercise that had been tentatively scheduled for the next month, an official said.

KIEV, May 31 ??“ The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development revised upwards the forecast of Ukraine??™s economic growth to 2% on year in 2006 from 1.2% after factoring in acceleration earlier this year, an official said.

AKTAU, May 31 ??“ Kazakhstan, which moves about 8 million tons of crude annually via Ukraine for export overseas, agreed to send half of it to Ukrainian oil refineries, an official said Tuesday.

AKTAU, May 31 ??“ Ukraine and Kazakhstan within a month are expected to sign a deal that would open the door for Ukrainian investments in oil and gas exploration and production in Kazakhstan, an official said Tuesday.

AKTAU, May 31 ??“ Kazakhstan has preliminarily agreed to join a proposed consortium with Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan to handle shipments of crude oil via the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, shipments that may finally revive the Odessa-Brody pipeline project, an official said Tuesday.

KIEV, June 1 ??“ Following the Orange Revolution, Ukraine's investment attractiveness has considerably grown, but western strategic investors are likely to arrive in the country only after the parliamentary election in 2006, Jacob Hartmut, director general of Renaissance Capital Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, June 1 ??“ Special roundtable discussions on Ukraine to be held by the World Economic Forum in Kiev on June 16 and June 17 will be attended by the presidents of five countries: Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko, Poland's Alexander Kwasniewski, Georgia's Mikhail Saakashvili, Lithuania's Valdas Adamkus, and Estonia's Arnold Ruitel.

BRUSSELS, May 1 – On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the largest wave of enlargement in the history of the European Union, High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, issued a statement stating that Ukraine and other candidate countries have a historic opportunity to link their future with the EU.

WASHINGTON, May 1 - The United States on Wednesday imposed new sanctions on hundreds of companies and people tied to Russia’s weapons development program, more than a dozen Chinese entities accused of helping Moscow find workarounds to earlier penalties.