WASHINGTON, May 25 - President Barack Obama suggested on Sunday that Ukraine's election may help unify the country, but analysts said that would depend largely on Moscow's influence and Kiev's ability to deal with daunting domestic challenges, Reuters reported.

KIEV, May 25 - Petro Poroshenko, a billionaire chocolate manufacturer, claimed the Ukrainian presidency with an emphatic election victory on Sunday, taking on a fraught mission to quell pro-Russian rebels and steer his fragile nation closer to the West.

BRUSSELS, May 22 – NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe General Philip Breedlove said the alliance is seeing "some movement" of Russian troops on the Ukraine border, but its significance is unclear.

LUHANSK, May 22 – Stores selling goods other than food were closing, public sector employees were put on a shorter day, and public transportation went over to shorter hours on territory controlled by the "Luhansk People's Republic" as the leadership of the unilaterally proclaimed state declared "martial law" and "full mobilization" on Thursday.

KIEV, May 25 – A cabinet meeting scheduled for June 1 will be devoted to setting tariffs in the utility service sphere, a sensitive issue as it reflects growing natural gas prices, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said.

KIEV, May 25 – The government plans to increase capital of state energy company, Naftogaz Ukrayiny, by 8.3% to 45.8 billion hryvnias, a move that may be aimed at rescuing the company from bankruptcy.

The government over the past two years has repeatedly resorted to injecting state capital into the company over the pasr two years, underscoring the company’s difficulties to pay for Russian gas imports.

KIEV, May 25 - Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain exporters, has removed grain export quotas that have helped drive up global food prices and hit domestic agribusinesses hard.

MOSCOW, May 25 – Russia plans to redirect 20% of the gas it transports through Ukraine to the new Nord Stream pipeline, a move that may deprive Ukraine $700 million in annual transit revenues.

KIEV, May 25 - President Viktor Yanukovych on Wednesday reiterated plans of signing a free trade agreement with the European Union this year, a choice that may eventually complicate relations with Russia.

KIEV, May 25 – President Viktor Yanukovych has signed new wording of the law on amendments to some Ukrainian laws preventing money laundering and financing terrorism.