Kiev

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has proposed on Monday a special three-year self-rule status for the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the free use of the Russian language there.

Poroshenko told top lawmakers the proposal would be part of a broader deal with the pro-independence rebels.

The Romanian Intelligence Agency, SRI, said on Sunday that it would be the coordinator of a new trust fund created by NATO member states to develop cyber-defence mechanisms for Kiev.

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Russian mobile firms face being squeezed out of Ukraine after Kiev signaled it would favor European companies in future airwave auctions to curb Moscow’s influence in the country

Ukraine is 'still in a state of war' with neighboring Russia despite a cease-fire between Kiev's forces and Moscow-backed rebels in the east, the country's prime minister says

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of trying to destroy Ukraine as an independent country and attempting to restore the USSR, reports Reuters. 

In Yatsenyuk's words, only NATO could defend Ukraine from external aggression. 

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has voiced his hope that Ukraine will become a non-NATO ally "in the near future".

He made clear he would use his forthcoming trip to Washington to secure such status.

Gas flow from Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom to Slovakia contracted 10 percent on Thursday, a top gas supplying company in the country has announced.

Slovakia's SPP has confirmed that supplies have been reduced, the Wall Street Journal and the Ukrainian website ZN.ua report.

Fresh sanctions targeting key sectors of Russia's economy are to be introduced on Friday, with the EU adding it could lift them in case of a continuous deescalation in Ukraine.

New measures will see the current blacklist expanded by 24 more Russian officials and rebel leaders, who will be imposed visa bans and asset freezes.

Russia still has about 1,000 troops in eastern Ukraine, backed up by another 20,000 on the border, NATO said Thursday, despite Kiev reporting that Moscow had withdrawn the bulk of its forces.

A peace roadmap agreed last week between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists preserves the concept of a sovereign, united country within its current borders, President Petro Poroshenko said on Sept. 10.