MOSCOW, Dec. 22 - Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold phone talks later on Monday with the leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine on a political resolution to the Ukraine crisis, the Kremlin's foreign policy adviser said, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Dec. 22 - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev followed his Belarussian counterpart to Ukraine on Monday as Moscow's old allies reassessed their reliance on Russia in the heat of its financial malaise, AFP reported.

KIEV, Dec. 22 - Ukrainian opposition leaders urged supporters at a rally on Sunday to stay on Kiev's main square through New Year and Christmas, as street protests appeared to be losing momentum.

KIEV, Dec. 22 – There were no reasons to reshuffle the government before the end of the year as lawmakers still need to debate the 2012 budget draft, Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said.

KIEV, Dec. 22 – Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will boycott her own appeal against a seven-year sentence for abuse of office, her legal team said on Thursday, branding the court case a farce.

KIEV, Dec. 21 - President Viktor Yanukovych said Ukraine is ready to consider synchronous ratification of an agreement regarding the free trade area (FTA).

MOSCOW, Dec. 21 - Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and his counterpart over at national Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrainy Yevhen Bakulin signed a memorandum in Moscow on Tuesday that foresees the creation of a joint venture that would extract methane from coal strata in Ukraine, Gazprom said in a statement.

KIEV, Dec. 22 – Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's order to convert the funds allocated under the Kyoto Protocol into the national currency has caused nearly UAH 1 million worth of damage to the state budget, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General's Office said.

NEW YORK, Dec. 22 – The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday agreed to immediately disburse $1.6 billion to Ukraine after the government promised to go ahead with reforming sectors of the economy.

The release of the money, following a meeting of the IMF’s executive board in Washington, comes amid signs that the government has been facing a financial crunch.

KIEV, Dec. 22 - Ukraine is in talks with Russia seeking to hike the fee it charges for shipments of Russian crude oil via its territory, Bohdan Sokolovskiy, the top energy envoy for President Viktor Yushchenko, said Tuesday.