KIEV, May 16 – The mayors of the Ukrainian capital and three regional centers (Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk and Lviv) have expressed their willingness to host the Eurovision 2017 song contest in their cities.

KIEV, May 17 – A senior lawmaker from President Petro Poroshenko’s group in Parliament on Tuesday withdrew from an anti-corruption committee after his controversial political ties were exposed.

KIEV, May 17 – Ukraine needs access to modern Western lethal weapons in order to effectively defend itself against the ongoing Russian aggression in the east, a top security official said Tuesday.

KIEV, May 16 - Fitch Ratings has affirmed Ukraine's Long-Term Foreign and Local Currency Issuer Default Ratings at 'CCC.'

"The issue ratings on Ukraine's senior unsecured foreign and local currency bonds have also been affirmed at 'CCC'. The Country Ceiling has been affirmed at 'CCC' and the Short-term foreign-currency IDR at 'C'," according to the agency.

KIEV, May 16 - The profits from ticket sales for Eurovision 2017 may cover approximately 75% of the expenses, and a fairly low budget is needed to organize the song contest, Jaanika Merilo, an aide to the Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister, said.

KIEV, May 16 – Ukraine's real gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2016 increased by 0.1% compared to the first quarter of 2015, while in the previous year the drop was 17%, the State Statistics Service reported.

KIEV, May 16 – President Petro Poroshenko has met with the Group of Seven ambassadors accredited in Ukraine and called on them to extend anti-Russian sanctions due to the failure to meet the Minsk agreements.

KIEV, May 17 – Some 10 million pensioners, or 81.7% of the total, have received raises by Ukraine's Pension Fund effective May 1 as a result of a rise in the subsistence wage, Pension Fund Chairman Oleksiy Zarudny said.

KIEV, May 14 - The Cabinet of Ministers has dismissed Zorian Shkiriak as acting chief of the State Emergency Situations Service and appointed his former deputy Mykola Chechotkin in his stead, Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko told journalists on Thursday when asked about reshuffles in the Emergency Situations Service.

KIEV, May 15 - Natural gas purchases from the European Union will account for at least 50% of Ukrainian gas imports in 2015, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said in parliament on Friday.