KIEV, July 27 – The head of the Russian Orthodox Church rejected calls from Ukraine's president to create a local Orthodox church that would be independent from Moscow, saying he firmly supports the status quo.

KIEV, July 24 – Ukraine should enter an energy consortium with Russia and Europe on parity terms, according to Arseniy Yatseniuk, the Front for Change initiative leader, said in an interview with the Arguments and Facts newspaper.

KIEV, July 24 – The State Property Fund is studying the possibility of returning Kherson Engineering Plant Ltd. to state ownership.

"I have launched such a procedure, and the State Property Fund is currently considering ways to return this plant to state ownership," Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said at a press conference in Dnipropetrovsk region.

KIEV, July 26 - In a move that may further anger Moscow, President Viktor Yushchenko on Saturday asked the head of Orthodox Christianity to bless the creation of a Ukrainian Church independent of Russia.

KIEV, July 27 – Heavy rainstorms killed at least 13 people, including five children, in western regions of Ukraine on Sunday in what the government described as the worst flooding disaster in 100 years.

KIEV, July 26 - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank and the EU plan to earmark loans and grants worth up to EUR 400 million in the next two years for energy products in Ukraine.

KIEV, July 27 ??“ The volume of natural gas pumped into Ukraine's underground storage facilities as of July 24 was estimated at 8.8 billion cubic meters, according to First Deputy Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan.

KIEV, July 27 ??“ Tens of Ukraine??™s strategic objects may become vulnerable to an attack within years as short-range missile complexes currently protecting them will become obsolete, President Viktor Yushchenko said Thursday.

KIEV, July 27 ??“ A new coalition, which would include President Viktor Yushchenko??™s Our Ukraine party, has been apparently emerging in Parliament on Thursday to promote his pro-Western policy and economic reforms, negotiators said.

KIEV, July 27 ??“ Ukraine will seek to build a pipeline from oil fields in northern Iraq across Turkey to boost oil supplies via Ukraine to the European Union, according to a plan approved by the government.