KIEV, Jan. 25 - Accession to the European Union is better for Ukraine in the long run than the Customs Union, but the country's European aspirations are hampered by its political persecutions, says Arseniy Yatseniuk, the leader of the Batkivschyna opposition faction in Parliament.

DAVOS, Jan. 25 - Ukraine has every chance of resuming International Monetary Fund financing at the end of the first quarter or at the beginning of the second quarter, and it should use it to reduce the cost of financing and attract foreign investment into the country, former Finance Minister and Director of Morgan Stanley Ukraine Ihor Mitiukov said.

DAVOS, Jan. 25 – Ukraine's new government has very ambitious plans to improve the economic situation in the country through the priority development of 10 sectors of the economy, Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boyko said.

KIEV, Jan. 25 - Businessman Rinat Akhmetov had nothing to do with the murder of lawmaker Yevhen Scherban and other businessmen in Donbas as media reports earlier claimed, citing Ukrainian politicians and journalists, according to the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP law firm.

KIEV, Jan. 28 – Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Monday Ukraine should accelerate imports of natural gas from the European Union in response to an “enslaving” 10-year gas supply contract with Russia.

KIEV, Jan. 28 – Lawmakers on Thursday approved in the first reading a bill, sponsored by the opposition Regions Party, seeking to amend presidential election law by eliminating a quorum at local election commissions.

KIEV, Jan. 28 – Parliament, led by the opposition Regions Party, on Thursday dismissed Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, dealing a major blow to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko just 10 days before the presidential vote.

KIEV, Jan. 27 – The Cabinet of Ministers has proposed a law under which businesses will not have to label foods as containing genetically modified organisms (GMO), if they do not contain protein and therefore have no transgenetic organisms.

KIEV, Jan. 27 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Regions Party leader Viktor Yanukovych, who have qualified for Ukraine's presidential runoff, will participate in a video linkup with Davos as part of the Sixth Ukrainian Lunch "Presidential elections: Quo vadis, Ukraine?" on January 29.

KIEV, Jan. 28 – President Viktor Yushchenko has signed a law ratifying a grant agreement between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Nuclear Regulatory Committee of Ukraine.

Parliament ratified the law on January 20.