MOSCOW, April 24 - Gazprom warned European companies on Wednesday against what it alleges are illicit resales of Russian gas to Ukraine, stepping up pressure on its neighbor in a long-standing contractual dispute, Reuters reported.

KIEV, April 23 – Organizing the search for gas and oil and other mineral deposits is a key task of the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said while introducing newly appointed Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Eduard Stavytsky in Kiev on Monday.

KIEV, April 24 - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has gone on a hunger strike in jail after prison guards punched her in the stomach and dragged her off for a medical examination, she said in a statement.

KIEV, April 23 – President Viktor Yushchenko has signed a bill on a decision of the National Security and Defense Council on urgent measures on providing for information security, the presidential press service reported on Wednesday.

The press service said that the cabinet is to submit proposals on a managing body for communications companies and bodies in one month due to the introduction of digital standards in television and radio broadcasting in Ukraine.

KIEV, April 24 – President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday criticized Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s plan of turning Ukraine into a parliamentary republic in which powers of the president would be reduced or eliminated.

KIEV, April 24 – The National Bank of Ukraine on Thursday postponed a decision that would allow the hryvnia to rapidly gain value against the U.S. dollar, but pledged to consider the issue again later this year.

KIEV, April 24 – President Viktor Yushchenko stepped up security at the State Property Fund, the country’s privatization agency, amid a looming clash with the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko over assets to be sold off.

KIEV, April 24 ??“ The Ukrainian government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, plans to approve on Wednesday a resolution that would increase pensions to more than 1 million retirees, according to the government??™s press service.

KIEV, April 24 ??“ The Prosecutor General??™s Office on Tuesday declined opening a criminal investigation against a judge of the Constitutional Court that had been accused by security service agents of corruption.

KIEV, April 24 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko??™s popularity has increased sharply in April, the first such steep increase since early 2005, following his decision to dismiss Parliament, an opinion poll showed Tuesday.