KIEV, March 24 – Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn admitted Thursday he has come under attack for his alleged role in the murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze in 2000 as former President Leonid Kuchma was formally charged.

KIEV, March 24 – The European People’s Party, one of Europe’s most powerful political groups, warned Ukraine on Thursday that progress in talks over closer ties and free trade will depend on the level of democracy in the country.

KIEV, March 24 – The practical realization of a law on amendments to the banking laws (No. 3024-VI) signed by the Ukrainian president will increase the transparency of the structure of owners of credit and financial institutions, which would promote the improvement of the reliability of the country's banking system, according to Serhiy Arbuzov, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.

KIEV, March 22 – A program of economic reforms in Ukraine should be drafted within two months, President Viktor Yanukovych said.

"The first program of economic reforms should be drafted no later than in 60 days," he said at a meeting of the committee for economic reforms in Kiev on Monday.

BRUSSELS, March 23 – The European Union has emphasized that it will render concrete and overall assistance to Ukraine "in return for implementing internal reforms."

KIEV, March 24 – Ukraine will have to cut its 2010 budget deficit to 6% of GDP among other conditions to win resumption of lending from the International Monetary Fund, a senior Ukrainian official said Wednesday.

KIEV, March 24 – Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said he will seek to reach a “compromise” in talks with Russia on Thursday for a deal that would allow lowering natural gas prices for Ukraine.

KIEV, March 24 – A Communist Party member on Wednesday was appointed head of the Customs Service, a post supervising billions of hryvnaias in state revenue, averting a collapse of the governing coalition.

KIEV, March 24 – The Ukrainian government has spent UAH1 billion since October to prop up its ailing metals and chemicals companies, the Industry Ministry announced.

These figures were received after an analysis of the impact of anti-crisis measures of the government on the results of metals and chemical companies' work.

KIEV, March 24 – The National Bank of Ukraine could stabilize the exchange rate if it restricted banks' ability to speculate on the currency, introduced a ban on the formation of currency reserves in dollars, introduced the 100% sale of export earnings, and cut the terms for payments on export and import contracts from 180 to 90 days, according to the deputy NBU governor, Oleksandr Savchenko.