After years of alternating between flirtation and hesitancy, the European Union is showing signs that it is finally ready to adopt a far more direct approach towards Ukraine. Considering the huge strides made by Kyiv in the field of democracy-building since 2004, warmer relations are more than justified and may end up providing the EU with its greatest triumph yet More

The privatisation of Odessa Port Plant (OPP) is again under threat of failure. Despite widespread interest in acquiring the plant, the enterprise remains at the centre of a political struggle, with the State Property Fund (SPF) postponing announcement of the hotly-anticipated tender More

This week will see Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Hryhoriy Nemyria welcome a high-level European Commission delegation to Kyiv for the formal beginning of negotiations on a Deep Free Trade Area (DFTA) agreement. After the success of the recent WTO membership talks, is Ukraine finally ready to take relations with the EU to a new level? More

Last week saw former Minister of Transport Mykola Rudkovskiy turn up at a Kyiv courthouse in a wheelchair to face charges of embezzling state funds. The usually robust Rudkovskiy is the latest in a long line of Ukrainian political figures to fall suddenly ill when faced with the prospect of being investigated over corruption allegations More

President Yushchenko was in Moscow last week for crucial talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine’s gas debt, energy trade middlemen and Kyiv’s NATO ambitions. While the talks ended in apparent compromise, the absence of detail left observers unsure of exactly what had been agreed Subscribe

Kyiv City Administration has announced plans to change the face of the Ukrainian capital over the next few years. Responding to President Viktor Yushchenko’s proddings, Kyiv city hall has turned its attention to improving Kyiv’s infrastructure and making the Ukrainian capital a model of urban planning Subscribe

Ethnic tensions grew in Ukraine’s semi-autonomous Crimean region grew last week following an act of mass vandalism which saw over two hundred Crimean Tatar gravestones destroyed. The attack appears to have been calculated to provoke an escalation in the stand-off between the peninsula’s minority Muslim Tatar and majority Christian Slavic populations Subscribe

Although nothing is ever certain in Ukrainian politics it would seem from the 12 February Moscow summit of the Russian and Ukrainian presidents that the energy intermediary Rosukrenergo is finished. May it rest in peace Subscribe

Although Ukraine’s economy does seem to be making progress, an estimated 50% to 60% of its businesses remain in the shadows making it a major hidden sector among post-Soviet transition economies, according to various sources. Many see Ukraine’s WTO progress as the first efficient step towards eliminating the country’s black economy, but what will the cost be to consumers? Subscribe