KIEV, Dec. 26 ??“ President Viktor Yushchenko appointed two close allies as governors in Sumy and Zhytomyr regions on Tuesday further underscoring a rift with the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

KIEV, Dec. 26 ??“ Tensions were set to rise between President Viktor Yushchenko and the government over Foreign Minister Boris Tarasiuk after a top government official had insisted that the minister had been fired.

KIEV, Dec. 26 - Incumbent Kiev Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko, backed by President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party, led Vitaliy Klichko, Ukraine??™s world heavyweight champion, in a mayor election poll due in March 2006, an opinion poll

KIEV, Dec. 26 - President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday will hear reports from ministers and energy sector executives over an escalating natural gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia, Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said Monday.

KIEV, Dec. 26 - President Viktor Yushchenko, on a surprise one-day visit to Iraq on Monday, said Ukraine seeks boosting cooperation with the Middle East nation in oil and gas extraction, transportation and power machinery sectors.

LONDON, Dec. 26 ??“ Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is confident that a year after the Orange Revolution, which brought him to power, Ukraine's democracy is showing results.

KIEV, Dec. 26 - The recent visit by Russian State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin to Sevastopol is the first step towards the long-awaited inventory of the Black Sea Fleet, said Chief of the Ukrainian presidential secretariat Oleh Rybachuk.

KIEV, Dec. 26 - EnergoAtom, the state company responsible for managing Ukraine's four nuclear power plants, said Monday it signed a contract with a U.S. firm for the development of a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.

KIEV, Dec. 23 ??“ President Leonid Kuchma met the country??™s top law enforcement officials Thursday amid fears that clashes may be planned by the authorities to disrupt the presidential vote Sunday.

MOSCOW, Dec. 23 ??“ Russian President Vladimir Putin plunged into embarrassment Thursday by calling on Ukrainian pro-Western opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, the likely winner of the Dec. 26 presidential election, not to appoint ???Zionists??? to his government.