Next week will see Yulia Tymoshenko pass the hundred day mark since she was theatrically voted in as Prime Minister last December. Since returning to office the fiery reformer has thrown herself into a programme of social spending and anti-corruption measures that has jolted the country out of its political slumber and now threatens to provide new impetus to the Orange ambitions first given voice during the 2004 revolution which she helped lead More

The latest stage of the rumbling gas wars between Russia and Ukraine seems to be over, and for once Ukraine appears to have come out on top. On March 12, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko oversaw the signing of a new agreement between the Russian gas monopolist Gasprom and Ukraine’s national gas company, which kept the price for Russian gas well below market levels and paved the way for the removal of murky intermediaries which Tymoshenko has long campaigned for More

Ukraine is fast becoming world-famous for the beauty and elegance of its well-dressed ladies, and the arrival of spring traditionally means even more fashion shows and catwalk cascades than usual across the country as the latest batch of young designers and established big-name stars tout their collections. However, while globally recognised designer labels continue to dominate at street level, more and more discerning Ukrainians are dressing in creations by domestic designers as the local fashion industry transforms itself from housewife’s hobby into a multi-million dollar business Subscribe

President Yushchenko last week announced plans to mark next year’s 350th anniversary of the Cossack victory at the Battle of Konotop with a string of commemorative events. This latest example of the President’s passion for Ukraine’s forgotten history is particularly poignant as the victory in question came against a huge invading Russian army and yet remains a largely unknown event, highlighting the role played over the centuries by Kremlin censorship in preventing Ukrainians from exploring their own history Subscribe

Retail banking in Ukraine has demonstrated such impressive growth over just a few years that local banks have actually been urged to slow down and redirect credits from individuals to the country’s industries in order to minimise the risk to the national economy. The threat of overheating was sounded at the Second Interregional Conference of Ukraine’s Banking Unions in Lviv last month Subscribe

Ukraine’s WTO entry will mean more access to the domestic market for branches of international banks. But there remain numerous question marks over the fine print of the legislation that will effect them More

Ukraine’s banking sector has been dominated by foreign buy-outs and unprecedented international attention over the past two years. Will the wave of mergers and acquisitions continue for the foreseeable future or have we seen the peak of the bank-buying frenzy? Subscribe

For the first two months of the year the State Savings Bank of Ukraine (Oshadbank) has been a popular place for older Ukrainian citizens. More than 5 million people have so far visited its offices throughout the country and registered for the return of their lost Soviet-era savings. Meanwhile, politicians are thinking about the future of this giant state bank Subscribe

Ukrainians who decided to wait till early 2008 before taking out a mortgage may now regret their caution: lending is to be choked off, and arranging a long-term loan will be practically impossible due to new regulations from the country’s central bank Subscribe

A local Ukrainian property developer, HCM Group, has announced plans to develop an office and residential complex in Kyiv’s Podil district, which will add much needed product to a real estate market that is severely undersupplied and in desperate need of world-class office space Subscribe