WARSAW, Sept. 21 – Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania launched a joint military force on Friday that Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski said could start its first exercises in the tense region in the next year, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Sept. 19 - President Petro Poroshenko said in a tweet on Friday that the United States had promised $1 billion in financial guarantees for Kiev to raise funds on the capital markets, Reuters reported.

VILNIUS, Sept. 20 - Fighting in Ukraine is continuing and the truce there is a ceasefire "in name only", NATO's top military commander said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Sept 21 - Ukraine reported more deaths among its troops and separatists on Sunday despite a ceasefire, but President Petro Poroshenko defended his peace plan, saying a military solution was no option and Western support could have been at risk, Reuters reported.

MOSCOW, Sept. 22 - Russia faces years of stagnation because of the Ukraine crisis and is ducking decisions needed to achieve a new economic model, former finance minister Alexei Kudrin told the Reuters Russia Investment Summit on Monday.

KIEV, Sept. 22 - Ukraine will rely on fuel oil and energy consumption cuts to bridge an estimated 5 billion cubic meter gap in gas supplies this winter, Volodymyr Hroysman, deputy prime minister, said Monday.

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 - Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on Monday called for a new "Coalition of Freedom," to defend democracy and Western values in a troubled world.

YALTA, Sept. 20 - Russia has warned Ukraine that if the country goes ahead with a planned agreement on free trade with the EU, it faces inevitable financial catastrophe and default.

UFA, Sept. 21 - Ukraine is ready to offer Russia compromises in the context of settling their gas dispute, Ukrainian ambassador to Russia Volodymyr Yelchenko told Interfax on Wednesday during his visit to Ufa.

KIEV, Sept. 21 – Ukraine will create all of the conditions to ensure the effective work of investors, President Viktor Yanukovych said at a meeting with U.S. businessmen in New York on Wednesday.