KIEV, Dec. 25 - Ukraine and Russia rapidly drifted towards a showdown in the International Arbitration Court in Stockholm amid failure to reach a mutually acceptable compromise over natural gas prices in 2006, officials said.

MOSCOW, Dec. 23 - Russian gas giant OAO Gazprom (RTS: GAZP) on Friday carried out training of a crisis center set up to ensure stable supplies of gas to European consumers through Ukrainian territory, Gazprom Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said at a press conference in the Interfax central office on Friday.

KIEV, Dec. 23 - Ukraine is pressing for between $1 bln and $1.5 bln to be set as the yearly level for direct state subsidies to its agro-industrial complex at the current round of World Trade Organization accession talk, Economics Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said in Kiev, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

KYIV, Nov 25 – The updated Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies of Ukraine signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) contains an obligation to implement effective and transparent judicial reform consistent with European judicial standards.

WASHINGTON, Nov 25 - Two U.S. senators are pushing to boost shipments of lethal weapons to Kyiv as the West nervously watches Russian troops and equipment mass along Ukraine’s eastern border, Politico reported Thursday.

KYIV, Nov 24 - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has downgraded its estimate of Ukraine's GDP growth in 2021 to 3.2%, compared with 3.5% in the October forecast, according to Ukraine's memorandum with the fund, released on November 24.

KYIV, Nov 25 – Ukraine’s taxi drivers and passengers are now required to fasten seat belts according to new traffic rules that have come into force on Wednesday.

KYIV, Nov 22 – Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has said that there is no corruption on a top level in Ukraine as of today.

"Today, there is absolutely no corruption in Ukraine among top officials. I am sure there would be no corruption at all levels very soon. We have good macroeconomic indicators today, the level of inflation decreases, every year the indicators in the ratings of reputable international agencies improve," he wrote on Facebook following a participation in the First Investment Forum of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

KYIV, Nov 25 – A priority for work of the Health Ministry in 2020 will be improvement of the quality and affordability of healthcare, Zoriana Skaletska, the healthcare minister, said at a press conference in Zhytomyr last week.

KYIV, Nov 23 – The Cabinet of Ministers continues discussing the issue of increasing the price of gas with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the issue is a key condition for approval of the new cooperation program with the IMF, Finance Minister Oksana Markarova said.