BERLIN, Jan 17 - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday he will appoint a regional official as the new defense minister following the resignation of the much-criticized Christine Lambrecht.

The defense minister-designate, Boris Pistorius, is a member of Scholz’s Social Democratic Party and has served as interior minister of Lower Saxony state since 2013.

WASHINGTON, Jan 14 - The US has information that indicates Russia has prepositioned a group of operatives to conduct a false-flag operation in eastern Ukraine, a US official told CNN on Friday, in an attempt to create a pretext for an invasion.

KYIV, Jan 14 – The main challenges for Ukraine in 2022 are keeping the budget deficit within 3.5% of GDP and bringing inflation to the target, Viktor Koziuk, a member of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), said.

WASHINGTON, Jan 14 – The U.S. is putting pressure on European allies and partners to agree on potential sanctions against Russia worried about slow progress despite weeks of talks and heightened concerns the Russian president could soon invade Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.

KYIV, Jan 14 – A hacker attack on a number of government websites was carried out on Friday night, the SBU and the State Special Communications Service are investigating the incident and collecting digital evidence, the press service of the SBU reported.

KYIV, Jan 14 – Azerbaijan and Ukraine have plans for cooperation in the energy sector, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said and expressed confidence that they would be implemented.

KYIV, Jan 14 – The exchange rate on the interbank FX market will cross the mark of UAH 28/$1 in the coming days due to pressure provoked by the geopolitical situation, Director of the Treasury Department at Unex Bank Hanna Zolotko has said.

KYIV, Jan 17 - President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that he and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev had signed a joint declaration on readiness to implement specific projects in areas of mutual interest of the countries.

KYIV, Jan 17 - Former President Petro Poroshenko has returned to Ukraine to fight treason charges he rejects as politically motivated, setting the stage for a divisive political storm as the government seeks the support of its Western partners amid heightened tensions with Russia.

KYIV, Jan 18 – Ukraine will not be extending its strict three-week quarantine measures after January 24 amid rapidly improving rate of new coronavirus cases, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Monday.