KYIV, Nov 23 – Parliament passed a bill on the national budget of Ukraine for 2019 with the deficit within 2.3% of Ukraine's GDP.

"The budget remains balanced and realistic. The deficit is within 2.3% of GDP. This will enable us to confidently enter 2019," Finance Minister Oksana Markarova said.

KYIV, Nov 25 - Russia has fired on and seized three Ukrainian naval ships off the Crimean Peninsula in a major escalation of tensions between the two countries, Ukrainian navy reported.

KIEV, Nov. 25 – Naftogaz Ukrayiny is expecting on Wednesday to receive the entire volume of Russian gas that was paid for earlier and will continue to meet its obligations for the transportation of gas to Europe, the state holding said.

KIEV, Nov. 25 – The main New Year's Tree in Kiev will be placed between Sofiyska and Mykhailivska Squares and will be lit on Saint Nicholas Day (December 19), Deputy head of Kiev City State Administration Anna Starostenko said.

SIMFEROPOL, Nov. 25 – The Crimean State Council said on Wednesday that responsibility for the energy blockade of the region rests with the Kiev authorities, which are trying to destabilize the situation on the peninsula.

KIEV, Nov. 25 - Tensions between Moscow and Kiev ratcheted up further Wednesday as Ukraine decided to stop buying gas from Russia and closed its airspace to its giant eastern neighbor’s airlines, AFP reported.

KIEV, Nov. 24 – Ukraine could resort to the mechanisms of the Stockholm Arbitration Chamber to make Gazprom unblock interconnectors between Ukraine and the European Union, Naftogaz Ukrayiny Chairman Andriy Kobolev has said.

KIEV, Nov. 24 – Ukraine has brought its dispute with Russia on the ban on imports of Ukrainian wallpaper to the World Trade Organization's committee on technical barriers against trade.

BELGRADE, Nov. 24 - The next round of trilateral negotiations on Ukraine-EU association issues is scheduled for December 1, Russian Foreign Ministry European cooperation department director Andrei Kelin told Interfax on Tuesday.

KIEV, Nov. 25 – The Infrastructure Ministry has drawn up a project to construct a new port which will handle cargo at moors and will be located in the Dnipro-Bug estuary.