KIEV, Feb. 24 - Naftogaz Ukrayiny will have to pay more than $600 million to Russian gas giant Gazprom before March 7 for gas imported in February, acting Finance Minister Ihor Umanskiy said Wednesday.

KIEV, Feb. 24 – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will probably skip the presidential inauguration of Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday, sending other officials instead, according to media reports on Wednesday.

KIEV, Feb. 24 – The Regions Party, which plans to form a new governing coalition, suggests cutting taxes and encouraging investments as a means to catapult Ukraine to become one of 20 biggest economies in the world.

NEW YORK, Feb. 24 - Moody's Investors Service has put the Republic of Ukraine's foreign and local currency government bond ratings (B1) and the foreign currency country ceilings for bonds (Ba3) and bank deposits (B2) under review for possible downgrade.

KIEV, Feb. 24 - The Ukrainian government and the National Bank of Ukraine should develop a common position in order to receive a second tranche of an International Monetary Fund stand-by credit, President Viktor Yushchenko said.

The president's position was given by Presidential Press Secretary Iryna Vannykova at a briefing on Tuesday.

KIEV, Feb. 24 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday indicated that she firmly opposes slashing budget spending, a key demand from the International Monetary Fund for resuming its $16.4 billion lending lifeline to Ukraine.

KIEV, Feb. 24 – Ukraine’s escalating political dysfunction took a destabilizing new turn Tuesday with the call by Leonid Kravhcuk, a former Ukrainian president, for President Viktor Yushchenko to resign to open the way for an early presidential election.

KIEV, Feb. 23 – The Ukrainian government plans to set a minimum tariff for cargo shipments by road in Ukraine as an anti-crisis measure, meeting one of the demands of representatives of trucking companies who took part in a rally in Kiev.

KIEV, Feb. 24 – Gas volumes that Naftogaz Ukrayiny is obliged to buy from Gazprom, would be adjusted by July 1, 2009, Naftogaz representative Ihor Didenko said in an interview with the Dzerkalo Tyzhnya newspaper.

NEW YORK, Feb. 23 - International Boxing Federation heavyweight champion Vladimir Klichko of Ukraine seized the World Boxing Organization belt Saturday with a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Sultan Ibragimov, the AFP reported.