KIEV, Nov. 20 – Kiev views a new agreement of association between Ukraine and the European Union, which is currently being drafted, as a step on the way to full membership of the EU, President Viktor Yushchenko said.

KIEV, Nov. 21 – President Viktor Yushchenko has accepted credentials from the ambassadors of 10 countries, the presidential press service reported on Friday.

The head of state was presented the credentials by the ambassadors of Japan, Ivory Coast, Peru, Burundi, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Mali, Tunisia, Cyprus, and Malta.

KIEV, Nov. 21 - Russian assistance might come in handy for Ukraine under conditions of global economic turmoil, Regions Party leader Viktor Yanukovych said to journalists during a break in the 10th congress of the United Russia party in Moscow on Thursday.

KIEV, Nov. 23 – The National Bank of Ukraine approved changes to its monetary policy that in the short term may lead to even faster depreciation of the hryvnia against the U.S. dollar.

The policy move, which comes days after a meeting between President Viktor Yushchenko and top officials at the NBU and biggest commercial banks, seeks to set official exchange rate based on daily forex trading.

KIEV, Nov. 22 – Russian gas giant Gazprom warned Saturday it may completely suspend gas supplies to Ukraine if the country fails to pay its $2.4 billion gas debt by the end of the year.

KIEV, Nov. 21 – Ukraine’s head of state has always insisted on the transparent privatization of all state property, particularly Odessa Port-Side Plant, said Maryna Stavniychuk, deputy head of the presidential secretariat and its representative in the Constitutional Court.

KIEV, Nov. 22 - The National Bank of Ukraine is forecasting that its gross international reserves could increase to between $20.5 billion and $21 billion in 2006 from $19.3 billion on Jan. 1, First Deputy Chairman of the Anatoliy Shapovalov told Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.

KIEV, Nov. 23 ??“ The court that reinstated Sviatoslav Piskun as prosecutor general last week had misidentified a presidential decree contested by Piskun, which makes the ruling a legal non-sense, a presidential aide said Wednesday.

KIEV, Nov. 23 ??“ Ukraine will accelerate diplomacy within regional groups such as GUAM aimed at promoting democracy and solving some of the most complicated ethnic conflicts in the area, President Viktor Yushchenko said Wednesday.

KIEV, Nov. 23 ??“ Coal production in Ukraine in 2005 will fall by 3.3% from 2004, to 77.5 mln tons, Coal Industry Minister Viktor Topolov said in Kiev on Tuesday.