KIEV, Aug. 22 - The Energy and Coal Industry Ministry has retained excise duties on gasoline and diesel fuel for the third 10-day period of August at the basic level.

KIEV, Aug. 23 – The administrative council of the state Individuals' Deposit Guarantee Fund has decided to increase the maximum guaranteed sum for refunding deposits in banks bankrupt from UAH 150,000 to UAH 200,000, the National Bank of Ukraine reported.

KIEV, Aug. 26 - Kiev's and Moscow's positions on resolving the problem of the demarcation of the Azov-Kerch water area differ, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.

"The parties' positions differ from each other, and the key problem is the determination of the Kerch Strait's status and its demarcation," Karasin told journalists in Kiev.

KIEV, Aug. 25 – The possible worsening of the economic situation in the world would affect Ukraine, although the country would suffer less in a new crisis than two years ago, as today the country is better prepared for such a crisis, according to Valeriy Lytvytsky the head of the group of advisors to the governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.

KIEV, Aug. 25 – Pechersky District Court in Kiev has ordered the arrest of the former first deputy defense minister, Valeriy Ivaschenko, Yuriy Boichenko,the spokesman for the Prosecutor General's Office, said on Wednesday.

KIEV, Aug. 26 - Actual year-on-year wages in Ukraine fell in July 2009 by 10%, while in July 2008 they grew by 6.2% year-over-year, the State Statistics Committee reported.

According to the committee, the average nominal wage in July 2009 grew by4.1% from July 2008 and by 1.4% from June 2009, to UAH 2,008.

KIEV, Aug. 26 – Mykolaiv-based Zorya-Mashproekt state gas turbine scientific and production complex has started implementing a long-term contact on supply of energy equipment for Iran Power Plant Project Management (MAPNA).

LONDON, Aug. 26 - Increasingly sour rhetoric with Russia is not deterring investors in Ukraine, who are betting that Western powers will guarantee enough financial aid to shield the country’s troubled economy from investment risk, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Aug. 25 – The value of investment deals on the Ukrainian commercial real estate market plunged by 97% year-over-year in H1, to less than $10 million, according to a survey by CB Richard Ellis consulting company in Ukraine.

KIEV, Aug. 26 – U.S., Russian and Swedish companies have shown their interest in participation in the capital of distressed Ukrprombank, the National Bank of Ukraine reported.