KIEV, April 24 - International Monetary Fund staff has endorsed a $17 billion loan to Ukraine to help the government pay its debts amid a projected economic contraction of 5% this year, Bloomberg has reported, citing government officials who have seen the recommendations.

WASHINGTON, April 24 - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said its board planned to meet on April 30 to consider an aid package for Ukraine, saying that Kiev had supplied the necessary documents to determine whether conditions for a bailout had been met, Reuters reported.

KIEV, April 24 - Ukrainian forces killed up to five pro-Moscow rebels on Thursday as they closed in on the separatists' military stronghold in the east, and Russia launched army drills near the border in response, raising fears its troops would invade, Reuters reported.

KIEV, April 23 – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe supports the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, OSCE PA acting President Wolfgang Grossruck said.

BRUSSELS, April 24 - Ukraine will extend its presence in Afghanistan after NATO ends its mission in the country, and it will also make its contribution to the Afghan Security Forces Fund Ihor Dolhov, head of Ukraine's Mission to NATO, said in an interview with Ukrainian journalists in Brussels ahead of a meeting of foreign ministers from NATO and ISAF partner nations.

KIEV, April 24 - Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant will cover the equipment in the turbine room of unit No. 4, the roof of which collapsed last winter, with a special paste in order to avoid radioactive dust being raised, Ukraine's chief state inspector for nuclear and radiation safety, Mykhailo Hashev, said.

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.