KIEV, Jan. 27 - Ukraine plans to sell state-owned coal mines to investors by the end of the year as part of a major privatization effort in the energy sector, Yuriy Ziukov, deputy energy and coal industry minister, said Tuesday.

BRUSSELS, Jan. 27 - EU finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to loan Ukraine 1.8 billion euros ($2.0 billion) to help save it from bankruptcy, leaving open the option of increasing aid at a later stage, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Jan 27 - Parliament on Tuesday approved a statement defining Russia as an "aggressor state," which deputies said could pave the way for consequences under international law, and called for more international aid and stronger sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Jan. 26 – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has urged Russia to stop its support for the separatists in the eastern Ukraine immediately, to stop destabilizing Ukraine and to respect its international commitments.

BERLIN, Jan. 26 – German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier hinted at further sanctions on Russia on Monday, saying the European Union would have to react if pro-Russian separatists launched a broad offensive on the east Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, EFE agency reported.

KIEV, Jan. 26 – Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council wants Ukraine to join international anti-Russian sanctions which, it said, must be expanded.

KIEV, Jan. 27 -- Ukrainian Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky said he and his colleagues had dissuaded protesters from trying to seize control of his ministry on Saturday and claimed that the country's electricity grid was running "as normal."

KIEV, Jan. 27 – Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk regional councils have decided to ban the activity and symbols of the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions in their regions.

KIEV, Jan. 27 -- EU Heads of Missions in Kiev call on Ukraine's government to deliver on its promises and announcements made in the context of the negotiations with the opposition and the opposition to maintain the peaceful character of demonstrations, the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine said in a statement on its Facebook page in the early hours of Monday.

KIEV, Jan. 27 - Ukraine on Monday announced it would draw on another $2 billion of credit - adding to $3 billion already received for purchase of a bond - from a $15 billion bailout package offered by Moscow after the former Soviet republic walked away from the deal with the EU, Reuters reported.