Politics of Ukraine

A group of demonstrators have attempted to storm the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) building in Ukraine's capital Kiev on Tuesday.

Some 20-30 people demanding the resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov attempted to break into the Parliament building, but were stopped by guards, ITAR-TASS reported. Some of the demonstrators were from the extremist Right Sector group.

German RWE has started delivering gas to Ukraine via Poland.

RWE uses the services of Polish gas-transit company Gaz System, which has reported it will provide to Ukraine around 4 M cubic meters of gas on Wednesday, April 16, according to RBC Daily.

Ukrainian MP Oleг Tsarev, a presidential candidate, has been brutally beaten by radicals in Kiev and is now in critical condition, a spokesman for the candidate said Tuesday.

Ukraine is suspending payments to Russia for gas deliveries until the conclusion of price talks, chief executive Andriy Kobolev said on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, if the country doesn't pay its debts.

In a letter to 18 world leaders, the Russian head of state warned that Ukraine's USD 2.2 B debt for delivered gas means that supplies could be stopped, something which would affect the European Union as well.

The United States will support any freely elected candidate following Ukraine's Presidential Elections on May 25.

The statement came from the US Ambassador to Kiev, Geoffrey Pyatt.

Ukraine will temporarily stop buying Russian gas until the price issue is settled, the country's Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan announced Wednesday.

Prodan said that Kiev was not satisfied with the sum it has to pay from April 1 this year, as ITAR-TASS agency quoted him as saying.

Ukrainian security forces have detained 70 people in an "anti-terrorist" organization in Kharkiv, the country's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced Tuesday.

Russia's consumer rights agency announced Monday it is to impose a ban on import of Ukrainian milk products from six regions of the country.

Officials by Rospotrebnadzor said that the goods do not meet regulations of fatty acid composition, as well as those of total protein and fat percentage, as the watchdog reported in a press release.

Ukraine's acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says his country does not accept the new prices for gas introduced by Russia.

This week, Russian energy giant Gazprom announced a major price hike for delivery of gas to Ukraine, up to USD 485 per 1000 cubic meters from the previous USD 268.