KIEV, March 26 – Europe has not yet simplified the visa regime for Ukraine, and this requires Kiev to defend the interests of Ukrainians, particularly through the possible restoration of the visa regime for EU citizens, Presidential Secretariat Chairman Viktor Baloha said.

MOSCOW, March 26 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has assigned its 'CCC+' long-term local currency debt rating and its 'uaBB' Ukraine national scale rating to a proposed UAH300 million (about $39 million) senior unsecured bond to be issued by the Ukrainian city of Lviv (CCC+/Negative/--; Ukraine national scale 'uaBB'), the agency said in a press release.

KIEV, March 27 – Japan is considering the possible allocation of a $5 billion loan to Ukraine, according to Ukrainian Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn.

KIEV, March 29 – The European Union should start buying Russian natural gas at the border between Ukraine and Russia, President Viktor Yushchenko said on Sunday, defending a recent EU-Ukraine gas declaration that angered Moscow.

KIEV, March 29 – The opposition Regions Party on Friday failed to deliver on its promise to organize massive street protests throughout Ukraine, but pledged its lawmakers would go ahead and block Parliament’s work if the government takes no action to ease the country’s economic crisis.

KIEV, March 29 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko on Thursday criticized the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych for its failure to sell major locomotive maker at open and competitive tender.

Luhanskteplovoz, the only producer of electric locomotives in the former Soviet Union, was sold for 292 million hryvnias, compared with about 2 billion hryvnias that the government could raise.

KIEV, March 29 ??“ Thousands of coal miners from eastern regions of Ukraine are on the way to Kiev apparently to show support for the pro-Russian government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, a lawmaker said Thursday.

KIEV, March 29 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko said he will meet leaders of political groups on Friday in what may appear to be the last attempt to resolve severe political crisis in Ukraine.

KIEV, March 29 ??“ Ukraine's government on Wednesday considered the project to create the Ukrspetsexport national amalgamation and its statute, the head of Ukraine's State Property Fund Valentyna Semeniuk said.

LUHANSK, March 29 - President Viktor Yushchenko said he believes that selling off the country's coal industry enterprises to private owners will help resolve a number of problems facing the sector.