KIEV, Dec. 17 – Russia has been unable to substantiate its fears at the Ukraine-EU-Russia negotiations regarding the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, said Jan Tombinski, head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

MOSCOW, Dec. 17 – Head of the European Union Delegation to Russia Vygaudas Usackas expects that the participants in a Russia-Ukraine-EU trilateral ministerial meeting in Brussels on December 21 will find mutually acceptable solutions related to the implementation of the Ukraine-EU free trade agreement, which would help avoid restrictions in trade between Russia and Ukraine.

MOSCOW, Dec. 17 - President Vladimir Putin insisted Thursday that Russia has no regular troops in eastern Ukraine but admitted that some people have been carrying out military tasks there, AFP reported.

KIEV, Dec. 17 - Ukraine faces a looming debt default after the country's finance ministry said Thursday that the country cannot make a $3 billion debt due to Russia this weekend without violating a debt-restructuring deal with other international creditors, AP reported.

KIEV, Dec. 16 – President Petro Poroshenko has expressed the hope that in the near future Ukraine will become a member of the Visegrad Four, which will then transform into the Visegrad Five.

KIEV, Dec. 17 – The Cabinet of Ministers expects that the tax and budget package will be approved by Parliament on December 25, giving Ukraine to receive a new disbursement of $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund in early January, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing an interview with Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko.

WARSAW, Dec. 17 - President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday he had decided his country should set out on a course towards Euro-Atlantic security integration, and would press for that in parliament soon, Reuters reported.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 17 - The International Monetary Fund estimates Ukraine needs another $15 billion in financing to withstand an economic crisis but the European Union has only limited capacity to help, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Dec. 17 - The European Union's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday that she and President Petro Poroshenko had detected signs of greater willingness from Russia to resolve the crisis in Ukraine's pro-separatist eastern territories, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Dec. 16 - The duration and scale of anti-government protests in Ukraine has put additional pressure on the country's credit profile, Fitch Ratings agency said.