KIEV, May 16 ??“ Ukraine is holding informal talks with the European Union on the creation of a free trade zone, Economy Minister Anatoliy Kinakh said during hearings in Parliament.

KIEV, May 16 - Ukraine??™s rampant imports this year have been widening the country??™s trade deficit to ???critical??? level, Anatoliy Kinakh, the top security advisor to President Viktor Yushchenko, said Tuesday.

KIEV, May 16 - GUAM, a pro-Western regional group involving Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan, will probably change its name next week as the group transforms into a full-fledged international organization, an official said Tuesday.

KIEV, May 16 - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday backtracked on her earlier plan to give the crucial parliamentary speaker post to the Socialist Party after Our Ukraine had threatened to suspend coalition talks.

KIEV, May 15 - The Ukrainian government approved 651.3 million hryvnias in 5-year spending to help settle returning Crimean Tatars and other ethnic groups that had been displaced by the Communist regime in the former Soviet Union.

MINSK, May 15 - Belarusian opposition activists appealed to Ukraine on Monday to offer some state university places to Belarusian students expelled from their own universities for protesting against their country's authoritarian leader.

KIEV, May 15 ??“ The government identified 29 major companies that it plans to re-auction on the ground that their original privatizations had been improperly manipulated by the previous government, Petro Poroshenko, the security advisor to President Viktor Yushchenko, said.

KIEV, May 14 ??“ Ivan Rizak, the former governor of the TransCarpathian region and a prominent supporter of former President Leonid Kuchma, was taken into custody Friday, the Prosecutor General??™s Office said.

KIEV, May 15 ??“ Ukraine is scrambling to buy crude in Kazakhstan after Russia suspended oil supplies to UkrTatNafta, the country??™s largest oil refinery, leading to sweeping shortages of gasoline, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Sunday.

SIMFEROPOL, May 16 ??“ Turkey is ready to invest in Crimea's resort and recreational industry, and will participate in the "Sea Shore" program for the development of the Crimean Coast initiated by Crimean Republic's Premier Anatoliy Matvienko, Turkish Foreign Minster Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying during his Friday visit to Crimea as part of his official visit to Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine reported.