KIEV, Aug. 27 - Ukraine's state budget booked revenue of UAH 115.857 billion in January-July, down 6.2% from the same period of 2008, the Finance Ministry said.

Tax payments to the state budget declined 13.4% to UAH 78.557 billion in the seven months.

KIEV, Aug. 27 - Ukraine’s opposition leader and the frontrunner in upcoming presidential election, Viktor Yanukovych, said Thursday he would seek to change a 10-year natural gas agreement with Russia after winning the presidency.

KIEV, Aug. 27 - Naftogaz Ukrayiny is in talks with foreign investors seeking to restructure $500 million in eurobond debts that come due on September 30, the national energy company said on Thursday.

This is the first time that Naftogaz has admitted the talks are underway, underscoring serious financial difficulties that the company has been facing this year.

KIEV, Aug. 27 – Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych predicted on Thursday that he would win the next presidential election in January and promised to make improving ties with Russia a priority.

Buoyed by a pledge of support from one of Ukraine's richest men for his campaign for the January 17 election, Yanukovych said he and his Regions Party would end economic "chaos" and bring greater stability to push through reform.

KIEV, Aug. 27 – The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a state target program for reforming and developing Ukraine's military-industrial complex through 2012.

KIEV, Aug. 27 - Artillery shells and other munitions at a storage site in Ukraine exploded after a forest fire spread to the facility, the Defense Ministry reported Wednesday. No one was hurt by the blasts, the ministry said.

KIEV, Aug. 27 – Abkhazia, a small Russia-backed enclave in Georgia that was recognized Tuesday by Moscow as an independent state, said it could harbor some of Russia’s naval forces in the Black Sea.

KIEV, Aug. 27 – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, in Ukraine seeking to forge “the widest possible coalition” against Russia’s aggression in Georgia, said the European Union and NATO should have a “hard-headed engagement” response.

KIEV, Aug. 27 – Energy and food price increases, coupled with Ukraine’s political crisis, could force the government to upwardly revise its 2007 inflation forecast once the election is over and the country’s economic results through Sept. 30 are available, while the GDP forecast is expected to hold steady, according to Economy Minister Anatoliy Kinakh.

KIEV, Aug. 27 – The Communist Party, a member of the pro-Russian government coalition, on Monday declined to join an emergency session of Parliament next week, dashing the government’s hopes of challenging President Viktor Yushchenko on controversial legislation.