NEW YORK, Sept. 23 - President Viktor Yushchenko has confirmed that Ukraine's Tsyklon (Cyclone)-4 launch vehicle will blast off from Brazil's Alcantara space center in 2010.

"The first launch as part of the Tsyklon-4 project will be carried out in 2010," Yushchenko told Ukrainian journalists in New York on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian leader said he had asked Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to help Ukraine's National Space Agency secure a $260-million loan from Brazil's National Bank for Economic and Social Development.