KIEV, Feb. 16 – The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is concerned about the potential impact on the energy system of the blockade of coal supply from the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions beyond Kiev control.

KIEV, Feb. 18 – The Ukrainian Cabinet has approved a 2015 program for cooperation with NATO, Deputy Prime Minister Hennadiy Zubko told reporters.

KIEV, Feb. 18 – The Federal Council of Switzerland has decided that Switzerland will participate in the multilateral aid package for Ukraine under certain conditions, and has instructed the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to negotiate a credit of $200 million for Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it is confident Ukraine should get an overall $40 billion financing package to support its economy, without providing details about the breakdown of funds, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Feb. 19 - Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine on Thursday despite European efforts to resurrect a stillborn ceasefire, a day after pro-Russian separatists spurned the truce by forcing thousands of government troops out of a strategic town, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Feb. 17 – Counterfeit software usage in government agencies dropped from 40% to 33% in 2013, Oleksiy Ardanov, acting Chief of the Copyright and Related Rights Division of the State Intellectual Property Service, told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, Feb. 19 - The Kiev metro will not open on Wednesday because of what the authorities are calling a “persisting terror attack threat."

On the other hand, the continued closure is widely viewed as a government measure to limit protestor access to the city.

BRUSSELS, Feb. 19 - The European Investment Bank said on Wednesday it had frozen its activities in Ukraine after at least 26 people died in the worst violence since the former Soviet republic gained independence.

KIEV, Feb. 19 - The European Union, which just three months ago hoped for a historic new alliance with Ukraine, is likely to call on Thursday for sanctions on Ukrainian officials who ordered a crackdown that killed at least 26 protesters.

KIEV, Feb. 19 - President Viktor Yanukovych said he reached agreement with opposition leaders on a "truce" to halt fighting that has killed 26 people, even as the United States stepped up pressure by imposing travel bans on 20 senior Ukrainian officials.