KIEV, Dec. 29 – Each Ukrainian owes UAH 6,500 due to the credit policy of the Ukrainian government, President Viktor Yushchenko said on the First National TV channel, according to the Ukrainska Pravda online edition.

KIEV, Dec. 29 – Ukraine’s opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych will most likely defeat Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in the runoff vote to become the country’s next president, the latest opinion poll suggested Tuesday.

KIEV, Dec. 26 – Parliament's decision to dismiss her as State Property Fund head is illegal and contradicts the Constitution, Fund Chairman Valentyna Semeniuk-Samsonenko said.

KIEV, Dec. 29 – President Viktor Yushchenko signed the government’s 2009 budget into law, but indicated that running the budget with deficit at 3% of GDP was not the best response to the financial crisis.

KIEV, Dec. 29 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko held an emergency meeting of the government Monday after talks between Ukraine and Russia had failed to produce a gas deal for 2009, threatening Ukrainians with a major price escalation within days.

KIEV, Dec. 26 - The presidential secretariat has accused the government of secretly negotiating with foreign consultants and called for making results of negotiations with BlackStone Group public, the presidential press service reported on Friday, citing deputy presidential chief of staff Ihor Pukshyn.

KIEV, Dec. 26 – Ukraine is interested in supplying electricity to Lithuania, President Viktor Yushchenko said at a meeting with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas.

KIEV, Dec. 29 – Representatives of the hotel business in Kiev demand the cancellation of a resolution of Kiev city state administration imposing a 9.5-fold increase in tariffs for municipal services for three-, four- and five-star hotels, said Yevhen Samartsev, the chairman of the community board of the State Service for Tourism and Resorts.

ASHGABAT, Dec. 29 - Gazprom, Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly, will import 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Turkmenistan in 2006

MOSCOW, Dec. 29 - Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a $3.6 bln loan to Ukraine on Thursday apparently to offset a skyrocketing natural gas price that Russia plans to charge Ukraine starting Jan. 1, 2006.