Ukraine plans to cover up to 60 percent of its gas import needs this year from Europe, leaving its once-dominant supplier Russia delivering the rest, the head of the state energy firm told Reuters on Thursday. In an interview, Naftogas chief executive Andriy Kobolyev said supplies from Russia could

(Reuters) — Ukraine on Tuesday accused pro-Russian separatists of taking advantage of a ceasefire deal signed last September to seize more territory in the east and said Kiev would demand its return in any future peace talks. Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin’s charge that the rebels had seized more

Ukraine’s announcement was certain to ratchet up tension between Kiev and Moscow on the eve of a planned meeting in Berlin of four foreign ministers that should bring Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin face to face with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov. Wednesday’s meeting, which also brings in the

(Reuters) — Russia said NATO was turning Ukraine into a «frontline of confrontation» and threatened to sever remaining ties with the Atlantic military alliance if Ukraine’s hopes of joining it were realized. The Kiev parliament’s renunciation of Ukraine’s neutral status on Tuesday in pursuit of

(Reuters) — The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday renounced Ukraine’s «non-aligned» status with the aim of eventually joining NATO, angering Moscow which views the Western alliance’s eastward expansion as a threat to its own security. Kiev first announced its intention of seeking the protection of

(VOA News) — The Eurasian Economic Union is headed for a rough start. Officials from members of the economic alliance, which was modeled on the European Union and officially comes into effect January 1, met Tuesday in Moscow under the pain of Russia’s collapsing economy and the absence of Ukraine.

VOA News — Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Kyiv Sunday to offer his support as Ukraine struggles with its pro-Russian separatist insurgency and to try to revive stalled peace talks. At a meeting, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko told Lukashenko, “I would like to

(Reuters) — European Union governments agreed on Thursday to add 13 Ukrainian separatists and five organizations to the bloc’s sanctions list, diplomats said. Ambassadors from the 28 EU countries meeting on Thursday targeted the separatists with asset freezes and travel bans and the organizations

(Reuters) — Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed bilateral relations and the situation in southeast Ukraine with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on the telephone on Wednesday evening, the Kremlin said on Thursday. The Kremlin said in a statement that the call was on the initiative of

Ukraine’s energy minister said on Monday Russia had suspended coal supplies to Ukraine, a blow to domestic energy suppliers who are struggling with a severe lack of raw fuel for power plants due to a separatist conflict in the industrial east.

(Reuters) An election in ex-Soviet Moldova next weekend will decide how closely it sticks to its path of European integration in defiance of Russia, as neighboring Ukraine struggles to handle a war triggered by following a similar pro-Europe line. The country — one of Europe’s smallest and poorest

(Reuters) — President Vladimir Putin blamed the West for worsening relations with Russia since the Ukraine crisis and said Moscow would not allow itself to become internationally isolated behind another ‘Iron Curtain’. In an interview published by state news agency TASS on Sunday, Putin also said

(VOA News) — A year on, the relatives of protesters who died in Ukraine’s EuroMaidan uprising aren’t the only ones angered by the country’s direction since the ouster of pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych. The lack of progress in investigating the slayings of more than 100 protesters caused

(Reuters) — Outside a high-rise building on the outskirts of this disputed region’s capital, a steady stream of frustrated residents exited a government office, clutching folders of bank records and shaking their heads in disgust. «They are not returning the money,» complained Margarita Pobudilova,