KIEV, Sept. 25 ??“ Iryna Herashchenko, President Viktor Yushchenko??™s press secretary, resigned on Monday amid ongoing reshuffling at the presidential office and rising tensions between the office and the Cabinet of Ministers.

KIEV, Sept. 25 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych appeared headed for a constitutional deadlock on Monday after the presidential office insisted that Yushchenko decrees must be implemented by the government.

NEW YORK, Sept. 25 - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told her Ukrainian counterpart on Monday that Washington was eager to work with the new government of pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

KIEV, Sept. 24 - Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov will probably travel to Moscow in early October for important natural gas talks with Russia, according to acting Foreign Minister Boris Tarasiuk.

KIEV, Sept. 23 - Ukraine is bidding to buy major crude oil and natural gas extracting assets in Kazakhstan to secure sufficient supplies of energy in the long-term, President Viktor Yushchenko said Friday.

KIEV, Sept. 24 - Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov criticized two key members of the previous government Saturday for allowing the rampant increases in social spending that had apparently played a role in stalling economic growth this year.

KIEV, Sept. 23 - Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG (Vienna, Austria) plans to complete the purchase of Aval Bank by Dec. 15, the Austrian bank reported in a press release sent to Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, Sept. 23 - The Union of Wholesale Traders and Producers of Alcohol and Tobacco products SOVAT has appealed to Parliament not to create legal problems for their industries.

KIEV, Sept. 23 - The World Bank is to lend Ukraine $106 million for the Hydropower Rehabilitation Project in Ukraine and for energy sector reform.

KIEV, Sept. 23 - A team of Korean experts arrived in Ukraine to conduct a feasibility study on improving a power distribution system in the Donetsk region, the Korean Embassy reported Friday.