KIEV, Dec. 19 – The Security Service of Ukraine has prevented a terrorist attack in the center of Kiev, an advisor to the SBU head, Markiyan Lubkivsky, has said.

MOSCOW, Dec 20 - Russia will not be intimidated over its actions in Ukraine and Crimea, President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday as his foreign ministry warned that it was preparing to retaliate against fresh Western sanctions, Reuters reported.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 19 – European Union leaders warned Moscow they are ready to flex their combined muscle and "stay the course" in a long confrontation with Russia if President Vladimir Putin refuses to pull back from Ukraine, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Dec. 21 - The authoritarian leader of Belarus flew into Kiev on Sunday hoping to revive stalled Ukrainian peace talks he has been hosting to calm Europe's volatile eastern edge, AFP reported.

KIEV, Dec. 18 – Ukraine needs serious rearmament, according to National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov.

WARSAW, Dec. 18 – President Petro Poroshenko thinks that Ukraine's current government lineup is the best one since the country’s independence.

"The first sign of changes was the formation of government. This government, I'm sure, is the best one throughout the existence of Ukraine," the president said at Ukrainian-Polish business forum in Warsaw on Wednesday.

PRAUGUE, Dec. 20 - Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas has said that the Czech Republic supports Ukraine in its European Union membership aspirations.

"Ukraine is a priority in our foreign relations and foreign trade," Necas said at a press conference in Prague on Monday after meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

KIEV, Dec. 20 – The European Court of Human Rights decided to fast track an application from former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko concerning her arrest in Kiev, Interfax reported.

KIEV, Dec. 21 – Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the largest opposition party who is appealing her seven-year jail sentence, called on opposition groups to unite and run as a single party at parliamentary elections in October 2012.

KIEV, Dec. 21 – A group of 53 MPs has appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for the Tax Code to be declared unconstitutional, as the document was adopted in violation of Article 15 of the constitution and is of a discriminatory character, the press service of the parliamentary committee for industrial and regulatory policy and entrepreneurship reported.