Ukraine news

Ukraine has agreed to take part in a missile defence system designed by the United States to protect Western countries. The government in Kiev defended its decision for military co-operation with the West, saying Russia cancelled a bilateral treaty with Ukraine earlier this year.
A few days ago, Poland and the United States reached agreement on the siting of missiles on Polish territory. These, together with radar installations in the Czech republic, make up the missile shield. Russia is fiercely opposed to the defence system and has threatened retaliatory measures.
The Ukrainian offer to co-operate with the US on the shield comes as the situation surrounding Russia's military operations in Georgia is increasingly tense. Ukraine's pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko has strongly criticised Russia and is threatening to impose restrictions on Russian navy vessels' use of the port of Sebastopol in Ukraine.

Ukrainian People's Party held picket near Russian Embassy in Kyiv. Representatives of the party demanded to withdraw Russian troops from Georgia, stop supporting separatists and using ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet that are based in Sevastopol in military actions in the conflict zone.
A respective statement was handed over to the embassy's worker. "We are viewing the actions of Russian authorities in Georgia as an aggression against a sovereign state jeopardizing peace and stability not only in the Caucasian region, but also in the entire Europe," MP Ivan Zayets said. The embassy's envoy, Vsevolod Loskutov, in turn, described the picket as an offense given to Russia. "We are protecting South Ossetia, Russian citizens and Russian peacekeepers," he stated, adding that around 2,000 Russian citizens have been killed in South Ossetia. He accused the Georgian president of this. Participants in the picket then headed to the Georgian Embassy in Ukraine to express their support and solidarity. Similar pickets of Russian consulates in Ukraine also took place in Lviv and Odesa.

Ukrainian special presidential envoy to Georgia Kostyantyn Yeliseyev has reaffirmed Kyiv's willingness to provide diplomatic assistance to have the armed hostilities in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone stopped and make Tbilisi and Tskhinvali engage in direct talks.
Yeliseyev made this statement while meeting with Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaya in Tbilisi, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported on Saturday.
Yeliseyev and Lomaya discussed the military-political and humanitarian situation in the region.
Lomaya said Yeliseyev was the first foreign high-ranking official to come to Georgia after the beginning of military actions in South Ossetia, which displays "the Ukrainian president's active foreign political position and Ukraine's desire to promptly respond to challenges to security in the region."

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has taken steps to permanently block supplies of Caspian oil via Ukraine’s Odessa-Brody pipeline to the European Union, a top official at President Viktor Yushchenko’s office said.
Maryna Stavniychuk, a deputy chief of staff at the Yushchenko office, said Tymoshenko loyalists filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court seeking to block Yushchenko’s order starting Caspian oil supplies.
“According to my information, the appeal has been submitted by Tymoshenko lawmakers,” Stavniychuk said at a press conference.

UEFA President Michel Platini urged the international community to back Ukraine and Poland in organizing Euro 2012 despite doubts the ex-communist states, especially Ukraine, are able to do so, Reuters reported.
Platini said such public support was vital "in order to implement the democratic decision made by the UEFA executive committee to hold Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine".

Ukraine's president declared Monday a three-month state of emergency in western Ukraine, where 22 people, including six children, have been killed by floods in the past week.
More than 40,000 homes have been flooded and thousands of people evacuated as a result, according to the Ukrainian emergencies ministry.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said his close ally David Zhvania was involved in his poisoning.
“I think yes, he is involved. Yes is a mild wording,” Yushchenko said at a news conference on Thursday.
Zhvania is a businessman and member of parliament who was elected from the pro-president bloc Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense”.
He was present at a supper in September of 2004, at which Yushenko, who then was running for president, could be presumably poisoned with dioxin.
The Ukrainian president said that the case is being investigated “very actively and professionally”.
“Associates of the prosecutor’s office are working day and night. When the investigation is over, Ukraine’s citizens will know many surprising things, among which there will be very unpleasant facts. I shall not divulge this information so far, as this in competence of the prosecutor’s office,” Yushchenko said.

A Ukrainian opposition party has prevented foreign warships participating in a NATO naval exercise from leaving the Black Sea port of Odessa.
Sea Breeze 2008, a NATO military exercise, began last Monday in Ukraine's Odessa, Crimea and Black Sea coastal regions. Two years ago, the Sea Breeze 2006 exercise in the Crimea was also disrupted by protests.
Ukraine and the United States are joined by 15 other countries for this year's exercises, which are due to end on July 26. Fifteen Ukrainian ships, four aircraft, 10 helicopters, and 500 service personnel are involved in the military exercises.
A poll conducted in April by the FOM-Ukraina pollster indicated that a majority of Ukrainians oppose NATO membership.

Ukrainian Minister of Education Ivan Vakarchuk met with representatives of the country’s Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant churches on 17 July 2008 in Kyiv. According to the press office of the Christian-Democratic Union, Vakarchuk emphasized the importance of the education of children and youth and how the churches and the state can work on this together.

In June, flour production in Ukraine totaled 219.500 tonnes, up 1% as compared to the previous month, according to the official statistics. Flour production decreased by 2% as compared to June 2007, reported the State Statistics Committee.
By the end of June stocks of flour at the enterprises have decreased by 11% as compared to the end of May and totaled 43.600 tonnes.
In total, following the results of 2007/08 MY, flour production in Ukraine totaled 2.7 mln tonnes, up 9% as compared to 2006/07.