KIEV, June 23 – The government over the first hundred days of its activities has done everything to divide the Ukrainian economy between "a cluster of oligarchs,” a prominent opposition leader charged Wednesday.

KIEV, June 23 - Prime Minister Mykola Azarov will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday for talks over oil transit and many other issues, he said Wednesday.

KIEV, June 23 – President Viktor Yanukovych will within days submit a bill to Parliament that would seek to change the country’s electoral system to the apparent benefit of his Regions Party.

KIEV, June 23 – Belarus on Wednesday paid its outstanding debt for Russian natural gas supplies, narrowly averting a showdown that could have shut down about 20% of Gazprom’s gas exports to the European Union.

KIEV, June 23 – Russian crude oil supplies to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines haven’t been affected by a management dispute at UkrTransNafta, the state-owned oil shipper, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

KIEV, June 23 – Parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly supported the resignation of Transportation Minister Yosyp Vinskiy, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been unable to make new appointments due to lack of legislative support.

KIEV, June 23 – Ukraine, Poland and Belarus on Tuesday pledged to create a regional alliance that would promote joint energy projects reducing dependence on Russian crude oil and natural gas supplies.

KIEV, June 23 – Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to set the next presidential election on January 17, 2010, the only date that President Viktor Yushchenko had earlier defended as “constitutional.”

KIEV, June 22 – Ukraine hopes to step up its trade and economic cooperation with China, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said.

"We hope that our mutual relations will continue developing actively as well, but apart from that, we hope to step up cooperation concerning potential investment in Ukraine's economy by Chinese businessmen," she said at a meeting with Chinese delegates in Kiev on Monday.

LVIV, June 23 - A major storm killed four people Monday in western Ukraine and brought trees and power lines crashing to the ground, forcing the government to send teams of rescue workers to the area.