BRUSSELS, Dec 20 – The European Union is prepared for the contract on Russian natural gas transit by Ukraine ceasing to be valid at the end of 2024, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson said.

KYIV, Dec 17 – The draft U.S. budget for 2022 provides for a total of $756 million in aid to Ukraine, but Ukraine's goal of $1 billion in U.S. support remains unchanged, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

KYIV, Dec 20 - Ukraine can afford a gradual increase in public debt from 52.3% of GDP in 2021 to about 60% of GDP by 2024-2025, Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the parliamentary committee on finance, taxation and customs policy, believes.

WASHINGTON, Dec 21 – The United States and Great Britain have sent to Ukraine groups of experts who are specialists in combating cyberattacks, The New York Times said.

KYIV, Dec 21 - Ukraine's armed forces are heavily outnumbered and outgunned by Russia's but could put up a level of resistance that would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to pay a price of many thousands of Russian lives for any new invasion, Reuters reported.

KYIV, Dec 18 – President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine had lost its position in the world and Europe in terms of the priority of countries for receiving the vaccine against COVID-19, but despite this, the state "primarily bases its decision on choosing a safe vaccine," the President's Office said.

KYIV, Dec 21 – The number of detected cases of COVID-19 in Ukraine has been declining for the third week in a row, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said during a press briefing in Kyiv on Monday.

"Over the past week, 70,327 cases of morbidity have been identified, over the previous week – 78,712. For the third week in a row, we observe a decrease in the number of detected cases," he said.

KYIV, Dec 21 – The State Budget of Ukraine for 2021 provides for an increase in funding for medicine, education and science, as well as the security and defense sector, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

KYIV, Dec 21 – Some 48% of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should move towards joining the European Union, 13% are supporters of integration into the Eurasian Economic Union with the Russian Federation, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and 30% do not want to join any of the unions, according to the survey conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation and released on Monday.

KYIV, Dec 21 – The European Union and the Energy Community may agree with Ukraine's gradual, extended over 15-20 years, approaching the European level of carbon prices and its integration into the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS), but Ukraine should start this process as soon as possible, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Janez Kopac.