KIEV, Sept. 18 – Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s Regions Party may further challenge President Viktor Yushchenko by vowing to join a controversial session of Parliament on Thursday, apparently to approve the draft 2008 budget.

KIEV, Sept. 18 - Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is due to visit Moscow on Friday for crucial natural gas talks with his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Fradkov, the government announced Monday.

KIEV, Sept. 18 ??“ Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych seemingly deadlocked with President Viktor Yushchenko on Monday, reiterating his insistence that Ukraine postpone indefinitely its accession to NATO, further increasing the split between the two.

KIEV, Sept. 16 - The government permitted Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the state oil and gas company, to resume exports of natural gas to Europe that had been suspended for almost three months.

KIEV, Sept. 17 - Valeriy Khoroshkovskiy, a prominent businessman and a former Economy Minister, was Saturday elected the head of Inter Television's Supervisory Council, suggesting he may have become the largest shareholder in Ukraine's largest network.

MOSCOW, Sept. 18 ??“ Ousted Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Sunday night appeared on the Kremlin-controlled NTV Russian television for an interview.

KIEV, Sept. 16 - The Ukrainian government is planning to raise oil and gas royalties in 2006, First Deputy Finance Minister Anatoliy Maksiuta told reporters, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

KIEV, Sept. 16 - The largest asset-management company in Ukraine, System Capital Management (based in Donetsk), plans to invest about $4 billion in the development of its basic mining and smelting mills within the next five years, SCM's senior manager Ihor Syry said during a press conference in Donetsk.

KIEV, Sept. 16 - Kharkiv-based UkrSibbank announced it has signed a letter of mandate with Citigroup, Deutsche Bank AG London and Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG, to organize a syndicated loan worth $75 million for trade financing, Interfax-Ukraine reproted.

KIEV, Sept. 16 - French natural gas company Gaz de France (GDF) may start storing undisclosed amount of gas in Ukrainian underground gas tanks, according to a preliminary agreement reached earlier this week, a Naftogaz Ukrayiny official said.