KIEV, June 24 – Jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday will skip a court hearing due to look into new tax dodging charges that the authorities are pressing against the former prime minister.

KIEV, June 24 – BYT leader Yulia Tymoshenko has said the arrest of the former chairman of the Customs Service of Ukraine, Anatoliy Makarenko, is "political persecution."

KIEV, June 24 – An ally of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been taken in custody for two months Thursday as the authorities investigate his role in confiscating natural gas from RosUkrEnergo in February 2009.

KIEV, June 22 – The Ukrainian cabinet at present is drawing up the legal basis for the privatization of regional electricity supply and heat generation companies, First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev said at a press conference attended by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, which was devoted to the results of the first 100 days of work of the Ukrainian government.

KIEV, June 22 – Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko will visit Italy on Wednesday, June 23, to discuss issues of gas transit through Ukraine to Europe, ministry spokesman Oleh Voloshyn, said at a press briefing in Kiev on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS, June 22 – The European Commission is studying ways to bring additional volumes of Russian gas through Ukraine in connection with Belarus' plans to cut gas transit through its territory, European Commission energy spokeswoman Marlene Holzner said in Brussels on Tuesday.

KIEV, June 22 – Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers on Monday approved the blueprints and project documentation for the Olympiysky national sports complex, which foresee the financing of all construction and reconstruction services to the tune of UAH2.114 billion, Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told reporters.

KIEV, June 22 – A shipment of weapons seized in Nigeria has nothing to do with state arms exporter Ukrspetsexport or Ukraine, the secretariat of the Ukrainian president said.

"The military cargo arrested in Nigeria has nothing to do with Ukrspetsexport or Ukraine," Presidential Press Secretary Iryna Vannykova said at a briefing on Monday.

KIEV, June 24 – Ukraine is more stable than Russia, according to the Failed States Index prepared jointly by the Fund for Peace and the magazine Foreign Policy, Radio Svoboda, the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty, has reported.

MOSCOW, June 24 - Russia's parliament on Thursday is likely to approve former health minister Mikhail Zurabov as ambassador to Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing local news agencies.

Zurabov will replace Viktor Chernomyrdin who was dismissed this month after 8 years as ambassador.