KIEV, Feb. 27 – Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said speculation over leasing Crimea to the Russian Federation is a deliberate surrender of the annexed peninsula to [Russian] occupiers.

"Speculation that Crimea will 'go the way of Alaska' is a deliberate attempt to surrender Crimea. No one in the U.S. seriously discusses these kinds of plans.

KIEV, Feb. 27 - Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine on Monday threatened to seize control of enterprises across their territories unless Kiev halts a blockade by nationalist protesters, AFP reported.

KIEV, Feb. 26 - Three former Ukrainian presidents, Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, and Viktor Yushchenko, have issued a joint statement accusing Russia of direct interference in Crimea's political affairs.

KIEV, Feb. 27 – The vital systems of the financial market of Ukraine, including the electronic payment system and operations on the open market, are functioning as normal, and the foreign exchange reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine consist of highly liquid assets, said Stepan Kubiv, the new head of the country's central bank.

KIEV, Feb. 27 – Independent MP Serhiy Mischenko has proposed the liquidation of the Income and Tax Ministry and the creation of the State Tax Service and the State Customs Service on its basis.

Relevant draft resolution No. 4280 on improving the activities of the income and tax authorities was registered in Parliament on February 26.

KIEV, Feb. 27 - Parliament Speaker and interim President Oleksandr Turchynov is calling on the Russian Black Sea Fleet servicemen stationed in Crimea not to leave the boundaries of their bases as established by Ukrainian-Russian agreements.

KIEV, Feb. 27 - Ukraine's new prime minister said on Thursday loans worth $37 billion had gone missing from state coffers during ousted President Viktor Yanukovych’s rule, and warned that unpopular measures were needed to salvage the economy.

KIEV, Feb. 27 - The United States told Russia to demonstrate in the coming days that it was sincere about its promise not to intervene in Ukraine, after armed men seized the regional parliament in Crimea and raised the Russian flag.

KIEV, Feb. 27 - If the amount of Russian gas flowing through Ukraine's gas-transport system goes down, the country can pump Central Asian and Azerbaijani gas to Europe, prime ministerial press secretary Vitaliy Lukyanenko said.

KIEV, Feb. 27 - A Ukrainian court sentenced a key political ally of jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to four years in prison on Monday for embezzlement and abuse of office.