KYIV, March 20 – The crisis rescue package passed by the Verkhovna Rada this week will cost UAH 8 billion to the national budget of Ukraine, expert of the Center for Economic Strategy Dmytro Horiunov has said.

KYIV, March 20 – The Ukrainian economy is in a better state compared with the period when it entered the previous crises and it is robust enough, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Dmytro Sologub has said.

KIEV, March 23 – A former Russian lawmaker and staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin was shot dead Thursday in downtown Kiev in an apparent assassination, authorities said.

KIEV, March 22 – Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers says it is determined to ban imports of thermal coal from the Russian Federation, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Ihor Nasalyk told the online portal Reform.Energy in Kiev on Wednesday.

KIEV, March 22 – The National Bank of Ukraine has amended legal acts to ensure a decision by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to sanction Ukrainian-based banks with Russian state capital, respective NBU resolution No. 25 dated March 21 is to become effective from March 23.

KIEV, March 22 - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on March 22 opened the new four-year program "Financial Sector Transformation" worth $23 million in Kiev.

KIEV, March 22 – Parliament has ratified an agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the government of the Kingdom of Norway on technical and financial cooperation. Some 233 people's deputies voted for relevant law No. 0127 on Wednesday.

KIEV, March 22 - If presidential elections were held in Ukraine next Sunday, President Petro Poroshenko would come in first, and Batkivschyna party leader Yulia Tymoshenko second, as seen from a public opinion poll of 2,021 respondents aged 18 or older conducted by the Razumkov Center sociological service on February 19-24.

KIEV, March 23 – President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree authorizing a Ukrainian delegation to participate in negotiations with Mexico on a draft mutual investment protection agreement.

MOSCOW, March 23 - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Moscow to discuss the crisis situations in Ukraine and Syria with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Kremlin.