Safety committee completes investigation into explosion at Luhansk hospital The Ukrainian State Committee for Industrial Safety, Labor Protection and Mining Supervision (Derzhhirpromnahliad) has completed its investigation into an oxygen cylinder explosion at Luhansk city hospital No. 7, which occurred on January 18, 2010.

According to the special investigation commission, a number of factors resulted in the explosion.

In particular, the commission discovered that a gasket seal used in the cylinder valve was made of a materi...

Communists call for annulling decrees on awarding Hero of Ukraine to Bandera and Shukhevych The Communist Party of Ukraine plans to address Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych with the demand to annul the decrees awarding the Hero of Ukraine to Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, MP from the Communist Party Yevhen Tsarkiov has said in the parliament on Mar. 9.

"These decrees cynically offend sacred feelings of veterans of the Great Patriotic War..." the MP said.

Tsarkiov noted that the communists consolidate the...

Ukrainian nationalists threaten to stage mass rallies over Bandera title Ukraine's nationalist forces have threatened to hold mass protests if President Victor Yanukovych annuls the decree awarding the Hero of Ukraine, the country's highest honor, to Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych.

"The Ukrainian president made pledges to Russia concerning the language, church, Shukhevych and Sevastopol. This is something he will run against before he learns to run the state in the interests of the state itself. What are we going to do? D...

Update: Gunman shot entering Ukraine consulate in Istanbul ISTANBUL, March 9 (Reuters) - A security guard shot and wounded a gunman, believed to have been carrying a bomb, when he tried to enter the Ukrainian consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday, media said.

Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler said a bomb squad was investigating a bag containing cables that the man had been carrying, but it was doubtful whether there were explosives inside.

"We don't think it is a bomb, but the police are checking it, and will probably blow it ...

Update: Guard shoots man outside Ukrainian Embassy ISTANBUL (AP) — A television report says a security officer guarding the Ukrainian Embassy in Istanbul has shot a man who claimed to be armed and carrying a bomb.

Guler said the man, a Turk, tried to enter the building because of a personal grievance concerning his wife in Ukraine and that it was not a terrorist attack.

The man was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, Guler said.

Bomb squads were called to examine a package the man was carr...

Yanukovych heads to Moscow to talk gas MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine's new president is meeting with his Russian counterpart to talk gas.

The Kremlin says Victor Yanukovych will hold talks with Dmitry MedvedevMar. 4afternoon.

Yanukovych, who was sworn in last week, is anxious to get lower prices for natural gas Russia supplies to Ukraine.

During his election campaign, the Kremlin-friendly hopeful said he would offer Russia a role in managing Ukraine's pipeline system in return for lower prices.

Russia's gas monop...

Yanukovych orders government to take urgent measures to prevent floods Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych has ordered the government, ministries and executive government agencies to take urgent measures to prevent possible floods in the spring of 2010.

The head of state signed a decree to that effect on Thursday, March 4, his press service reported.

The Cabinet of Ministers and state administrations in the regions were ordered to urgently draft and approve within three days a plan of measures to prevent floods and tackle ...

Yanukovych leaves on visit to Moscow Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych left on a one-day official visit to Russia on Friday morning.

In Moscow, Yanukovych is scheduled first to hold a tete-a-tete meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, an Interfax-Ukraine reporter said. The meeting is to last for an hour. Extended talks are to be held after the meeting. Yanukovych and Medvedev will then answer questions from journalists.

The Ukrainian president is also planning to meet with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.<...

(AP)

Yulia’s Out, Who is in? Tymoshenko easily ousted; no ruling majority formed.

Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych got his wish March 3 when parliament dismissed rival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s government in a no-confidence vote.

The motion – supported by 243 lawmakers in the 450-seat chamber – opens the way for Yanukovych’s Party of Regions to try and form a majority coalition that the president needs to strengthen his grip on power.

Constitutional changes adopted hastily in the h...

Yanukovych, know your employers! In an effort to remind Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych who he works for, an effort is under way to collect as many mug shots of Ukrainians as possible and present them to the nation's leader later this month.

The grassroots effort is designed to literally show Yanukovych the faces of Ukraine.

A six-meter banner covered with passport-sized pictures has been hanging in the lobby of the Kyiv Theater near Lva Tolstoho metro station for the last month. Anyone willing to contribute to the &ld...

(AP)

Russia’s interest in warships worrisome If Russia attacks a neighbor, it might do with new warships supplied by France.

It’s been about 18 months since Russia invaded the small Caucasus nation of Georgia, a move which shocked the world and sparked fears that Ukraine, another pro-Western ally in Moscow’s backyard, could be next.

Those fears have subsided since, but should the Kremlin decide to attack one of its neighbors again, it may be able to do so with state-of-the-art warships it wants to buy from France...

(vgolos.com.ua)

Lviv lawmaker touches off latest Ukraine-Russia row over whether Michael should be called Misha or Mykhailyk LVIV, Ukraine – Here’s a recipe for overnight international fame if you happen to be an obscure local politician: Come to a kindergarten class unannounced, and tell a group of 5-year-old kids that their names are all wrong because they sound too Russian, then try to teach them how to say them in Ukrainian. Tell those who disagree to pack their suitcases and go to Moscow. Oh, and make sure you have a T...

Court rejects appeal of Zvarych against Yushchenko, Nalyvaichenko, and Medvedko Lviv, March 4 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Lviv Circuit Administrative Court has rejected an appeal lodged by Ihor Zvarych, the former head of Lviv Administrative Appeals Court, against ex-president of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko and the heads of Ukraine's Security Service and Prosecutor General's Office, Tetiana Turchyna, the press secretary of Zvarych's legal team has told the Lviv Portal Internet site.

According to her, Lviv Circuit Administrative Court onMar....

Ternopil regional council calls on European Parliament to review resolution on Bandera Members of Ternopil regional council have approved an address to the European Parliament to review its resolution of February 25 on the situation in Ukraine and cancel clause 20, which suggests the Ukrainian authorities to review the decree on awarding Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the title of Hero of Ukraine.

Ternopil regional council of the fifth convocation approved its address to the European Parli...

Expert: 20% cut in staff of state agencies must not affect system of scientific provision of national security The plans of the administration of Ukraine's President Victor Yanukovych regarding a 20% cut in staff at state agencies and a decrease in expenses to maintain state bureaucracy must not threaten the current system of scientific provision of the state's national security, according to experts.

"These measures on saving funds [a 20% cut in staff of state agencies] can only be welcomed, but some mass media have already c...

segodnya.ua

Update: Victor Lozinsky detained in Kyiv Officers of the Prosecutor General's Office and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have detained former MP Victor Lozinsky, who is a suspect in a murder case, the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office have told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to the press service, Lozinsky turned himself in to the prosecutor's office, where he is currently being held.

As reported, on June 16, Valeriy Oliynyk, a 55-year-old resident of Kirovohrad region, died as a result of an inciden...

Presidential administration official: Ukraine not to join customs union First deputy head of the presidential administration Iryna Akimova has said that Ukraine does not intend to join the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus in the near future.

"Since the customs union contradicts and will greatly complicate Ukraine's membership in the WTO, this matter cannot be raised today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, it is absolutely out of question," she said on the Inter TV channel.

At the same time, Akimov...

Update: President Yanukovych leaves to Brussels for first official foreign visit Brussels, March 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine's President Victor Yanukovych left on Mar. 1 morning for Brussels to meet European Union leaders during his first official foreign visit.

Yanukovych is expected to meet on Mar. 1 with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Commission Vi...

A top contender for prime minister, who is a traditionally pro-tobacco lawmaker, has derided government measures to hike excise taxes on the nation’s cheap and plentiful supplies of alcohol and tobacco products.

Mykola Azarov, one of President Victor Yanukovych’s three candidates for prime minister, hinted at decreasing such taxes, a step that runs counter to proven global anti-smoking and revenue-generating practices.

Azarov, a Party of Regions leader, criticized measures that quadrupled tobacco and alcohol excise t...

EU document angers Ukraine nationalists A Ukrainian nationalist association on Friday slammed a European Parliament resolution the day before that expressed hope that Ukraine's new president would strip 1940s nationalist militant leader Stepan Bandera of the posthumous title of Hero of Ukraine conferred on him by the former president last month.

"The resolution of the European Parliament is based on a distorted vision of the history of Ukraine that was formed by Soviet pseudo-historiography," the Congress of Ukrainian Nat...