KIEV, Sept. 17 – Ukraine, owing to a "trade war" with Russia, is gaining for many centuries its economic independence from the unpredictable northern neighbor, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said.

KIEV, Sept. 17 – Ukraine plans a push on Wednesday towards signing a landmark agreement with the European Union by scheduling a debate in the government and sending a senior official to Brussels.

YALTA, Sept. 14 - The world has been ruled by countries possessing oil and gas, but in the next decade the leadership will pass to countries with grain and water, according to Ukrainian Economic Development and Trade Minister Petro Poroshenko.

BRUSSELS, Sept. 14 – There should be no room for a pause in EU-Ukraine relations and no room for compromise on European values, according to European politicians.

KIEV, Sept. 15 – The Front for Change initiative leader, Arseniy Yatseniuk, believes that Turkmen gas supplies to Ukraine could be restored through the formation of an energy consortium.

"The issue of Turkmen gas supplies to Ukraine doesn't lie today within the area of bilateral relations. We have actually lost the market after signing the gas agreement with Russia. I would like to remind you that Ukraine previously didn't buy gas from Russia.

KIEV, Sept. 17 – Ukraine should carry out reforms to deepen its relations with the European Union, ex-President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pottering said in a letter to Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn.

"The unbiased, democratic and comprehensive implementation of ambitious reforms is a step required not only for Ukraine, but also for deepening relations between Ukraine and the European Union," Pottering said.

KIEV, Sept. 17 - President Viktor Yushchenko's secretariat has forecast that Ukraine's real GDP will shrink by 12.9% and nominal GDP by 8.6% in 2009.

This year's nominal GDP in Ukraine will amount to UAH956.4 billion, according to Oleksandr Shlapak, first deputy head of the presidential secretariat.

KIEV, Sept. 17 – Concerns have been growing on Thursday among the leading figures of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s government that the next presidential election may get disrupted following an expected ruling by the Constitutional Court.

KIEV, Sept. 17 – In another sign of the deepening rift between Ukraine’s government and its central bank, a senior National Bank of Ukraine official said Thursday that the government must implement all reform measures that have been agreed with the International Monetary Fund or risk missing out on the fund’s next $3.1 billion “standby” loan installment, expected by year end.

KIEV, Sept. 17 – Ukraine's government has not received any official notifications concerning the imposition of economic sanctions on Ukrainian goods, Deputy Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemyria told the press in Kiev on Tuesday.