KIEV, Aug. 25 - Ukraine said Tuesday that the leaders of Germany and France had agreed to back "firm" steps against Russia should pro-Moscow rebels hold disputed elections in the ex-Soviet state's separatist east.

A top aide to President Petro Poroshenko said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande had agreed at trilateral talks in Berlin on Monday to a set of "red lines" Russia must not cross, AFP reported.

KIEV, Aug. 24 - Ukraine and a group of its largest creditors are close to agreeing on a restructuring deal that will include a 20-percent writedown on the principal of about $19 billion of debt, the Wall Street Journal quoted sources as saying on Monday.

KIEV, Aug. 22 – President Petro Poroshenko has chosen the investment company Rothschild in a consortium with the investment group Investment Capital Ukraine (ICU) to prepare and organize the sale of his assets, which he promised to do after his election, Radio Liberty reported.

KIEV, Aug. 25 - Ukraine marked its 23rd independence day on Sunday with a military march-past in Kiev intended to send a message of defiance to Russia, but pro-Moscow rebels countered by parading captured Ukrainian troops through the streets of their main stronghold, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Aug. 25 - President Petro Poroshenko dissolved Ukraine's parliament on Monday and announced an election on Oct. 26 in the country, Reuters reported.

Poroshenko's decision had been expected after the governing coalition in Ukraine - which ousted its Moscow-backed president in street protests in February precipitating the separatist rebellions in its eastern regions - collapsed on July 24.

KIEV, Aug. 25 - The presidents of Ukraine and Russia will hold talks on Tuesday aimed at a possible settlement of the separatist war in Ukraine's east.

Since Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko last met on June 6 in France, Ukraine has turned the tide of the conflict and largely encircled pro-Russian rebels holding out in two cities in the east of the former Soviet republic.

KIEV, Aug. 21 – Nine mines in Donbas have been stopped due to floods caused by restrictions in the supply of electricity, First Deputy Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Ziukov said.

KIEV, Aug. 22 – Ukrainian President Poroshenko hopes that the dialogue during a meeting in Minsk on August 26 will be intense and the major issue on its agenda will be peace.

KIEV, Aug. 22 – Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has prepared a list of documents introducing sanctions against Russia as a state, about 65 legal entities and 176 individuals, most of whom are Russian citizens, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said.

KIEV, Aug. 20 – Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko has called on Ukrainians to come to the building of the Ukrainian parliament on September 7 and support the adoption of a law introducing a moratorium on a rise in prices of gas and housing and utilities tariffs for the public from January 1, 2010, Tymoshenko said in a statement released by the BYT press service on Friday.