KIEV, Oct. 20 – President Petro Poroshenko, as part of his working visit to Maastricht(the Netherlands), the president has met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and thanked him for recent aid provided by his government.

KIEV, Oct. 20 - Parliament has adopted the draft national budget for 2017 at first reading on the last day foreseen for this in the Budget Code.

Some 230 MPs supported the decision at a plenary session on October 20.

KIEV, Oct. 23 – President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday sought to dispel concerns of his domestic supporters about his Berlin meeting by insisting that Ukraine would not agree to local elections in pro-Russian separatist-controlled areas before fighting is stopped and Russian troops are removed from the territory.

MOSCOW, Oct. 23 - The director of Russia's Federal Migration Service, Konstantin Romodanovsky, said he does not know whether or not former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has received asylum in Russia or Russian citizenship.

ODESSA, Oct. 23 – President Petro Poroshenko has vowed that militant-controlled lands in eastern Ukraine will return under Kiev's control and ruled out the possibility of the east of the country becoming the site of a "frozen conflict."

KIEV, Oct. 23 – Dnipropetrovsk Regional Governor Ihor Kolomoisky and U.N. representatives are planning soon to sign a memorandum that foresees the allocation of over $2 million for internally displaced persons, the regional state administration reported.

KIEV, Oct. 23 – Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk expects that the new government will be quickly formed after the parliamentary election, which will allow for the holding of negotiations in November with the International Monetary Fund on the expansion of the Stand-By Arrangement.

KIEV, Oct. 23 - Ukraine used 17% less natural gas this year and the government plans more energy saving measures and coal imports to survive the winter, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said.

STRASSBOURG, Oct. 23 - EU lawmakers on Thursday took the latest step in efforts to bring Kiev closer to Europe, extending Ukrainian exporters' open access to the European Union until a trade deal takes effect at the end of next year, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Oct. 23 – Ukraine's GDP growth should accelerate in the second half of 2013, First Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Arbuzov said.

"It is expected that in the second half of the year the pace of economic processes will improve, but the country will not manage to fully cover the influence of weak demand. This year GDP will grow," Arbuzov said in comments that were sent to Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday, October 22.