KYIV, Dec 21 – Most (85.9%) Ukrainians think the battle against corruption in the country is completely or mostly unsuccessful, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Foundation of Democratic Initiatives named after Ilko Kucheriv and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS).

KIEV, Dec. 23 – Russian howitzers and rocket launchers regularly pounded Ukrainian positions across the border in the early stages of the war in eastern Ukraine, AP reported, citing an analysis of hundreds of attack sites published by the open source investigative group Bellingcat.

LONDON, Dec. 24 - Ukraine should complete reforms in order to apply for NATO membership, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said in an interview with Norwegian television and radio corporation NRK.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 - The position of the United States on the events in Crimea and eastern Ukraine is one of the major successes of U.S. diplomacy in 2014, State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf said.

MOSCOW, Dec. 24 - Russia said on Wednesday NATO was turning Ukraine into a "frontline of confrontation" and threatened to sever remaining ties with the Atlantic military alliance if Ukraine's hopes of joining it were realized, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Dec. 24 - Ukraine will be forced to implement more power cuts if the weather gets sharply colder, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Kiev had already temporarily cut off electricity to Crimea.

KIEV, Dec. 22 – The Prosecutor General's Office has informed relevant EU agencies over investigations into former authorities, against whom sanctions were imposed by the EU, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema said.

KIEV, Dec. 23 - The situation in Ukraine will be a priority during the Serbian presidency of the OSCE, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said.

"Unfortunately, Ukraine is a priority issue for the next year. I say 'unfortunately,' because I sympathize in connection with the events that are happening in the east of Ukraine," he told reporters after talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin.

KIEV, Dec. 24 - The Cabinet of Ministers suggests that the tax on obligatory state pension insurance, paid by buyers of cash foreign currency, be increased from 0.5% to 2% in 2015, while non-cash foreign exchange operations will be exempt from taxation.

SIMFEROPOL, Dec. 24 - Russia and Ukraine have signed a contract which provides for the supply of Crimea with electricity produced in Russia through the territory of Ukraine, the head of the Republic of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov said.