KIEV, March 25 - Ukraine’s coal sector is under pressure after coal miners at 15 state-owned coal companies went on strike to demand payment of back wages, a trade union said Wednesday.

KIEV, March 25 - Ukraine on Wednesday dramatically arrested two top officials on graft charges at a televised government meeting, sending a clear anti-corruption message across the board.

KIEV, March 24 – The Prosecutor General's office has conducted 32 searches at the firms connected with ex-energy and coal industry minister Eduard Stavytsky and ex-agrarian policy and food minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk.

KIEV, March 25 - The cost of military property in Crimea is estimated at $11.439 billion, acting Ukrainian Defense Minister Ihor Teniukh said.

"The cost of property, which is in Crimea, is estimated at $11.439 billion. The volume of ammunition in Crimea is estimated at 36,000 tons," Teniukh said in Parliament on Tuesday.

SIMFEROPOL, March 25 - Crimea's indigenous Tatars are considering their own referendum on whether to be part of Ukraine or Russia, the leader of the Muslim minority said on Tuesday, in a challenge to Moscow that could further destabilize the region.

KIEV, March 25 - Ukraine will continue to pay lower gas prices to Russia in April even if Moscow moves to cancel its earlier agreed price discount, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan said Tuesday.

Ukraine enjoyed the $100/1,000 cubic meters discount on Russian gas since April 2010 after it had agreed to extend the stay of the Russian navy in the Crimean port of Sevastopol by 25 years through 2042.

KIEV, March 25 - Ukraine’s interim Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh was sacked by Parliament on Tuesday over his handling of the Crimean crisis, after it emerged that fewer than a quarter of soldiers in Crimea plan to stay in the military.

KIEV, March 25 - Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said he was negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a loan package of $15 billion to $20 billion because the economy had been severely weakened by months of political turmoil and mismanagement. He forecast a 3% contraction in the economy this year.

THE HAGUE, March 25 - Russia and the West drew a tentative line under the Ukraine crisis on Tuesday after U.S. President Barack Obama and his allies agreed to hold off on more damaging economic sanctions unless Moscow goes beyond the seizure of Crimea.

KIEV, March 22 – Parliament has ratified the Visa Facilitation Agreement with the European Union.

Some 275 of the 350 MPs registered in the parliamentary sitting hall on Friday supported the ratification.