Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says attempts to build a natural-gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine will fail and adds tat "gas has to stop being used as a political weapon."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin thanks the Dutch parliament for approving the EU's Association Agreement with Ukraine: "With every new ratification Ukraine gets closer to the EU."
The Ukrainian central bank has begun selling government securities from its own portfolio.
Russia cuts off power supplies to Ukraine rebels: Kiev
Kiev, July 7, 2015 (AFP) -- Kiev said Tuesday that Russia had cut off electricity to Ukraine's rebel-run regions in what appears to be another sign that Moscow is losing interest in plans to splinter its neighbour.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone through an extended spell without peppering his speeches with mentions of Novorossiya, the "New Russia" made up of Ukrainian lands that were once under tsarist control.
The veteran Kremlin leader had promoted the project repeatedly while the separatists were gaining ground along Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland toward the end of last year.
But Ukrainian insurgents who claimed to be in charge of re-creating a part of the old Russian empire had in recent weeks complained of a sudden lack of interest from the Kremlin and a dire shortage of funds.
Ukraine's Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said Tuesday that energy-rich Russia had recently also stopped supplying electricity to the militia-run regions of Lugansk and Donetsk.
"We held fairly productive negotiations with the Russians," Interfax-Ukraine quoted Demchyshyn as telling an energy ministry meeting.
"We have been able to switch off four supply lines that ran from Russia to territories outside our control."
The energy minister said the thick cables supplied an allowance of $15 million (14 million euros) of power a month.
"That money was not being paid," Demchyshyn said.
There was no immediate response to his comments from Moscow.
Russia had earlier also promised to deliver free natural gas to Ukraine's rebel regions by building extensions and branches to existing pipelines.
It remains unclear where those plans stand today. Kiev officials believe the fighters may be smuggling in small supplies of gas through hastily-erected -- and considerably smaller -- pipes that cross parts of the Ukrainian-Russian border under their control
Demchyshyn's comments came ahead of a new round of negotiations Tuesday in the Belarussian capital Minsk aimed at ending a 15-month conflict that has claimed more than 6,500 lives.
The EU-mediated meeting will see Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's personal envoy speak to the Moscow-appointed negotiator in the presence of separatist representatives who are not formally part of the talks.
Russia Stiffens Charges Against Jailed Ukrainian Pilot
MOSCOW -- Investigators in Russia have increased the seriousness of charges against captive Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, accusing her of direct participation in the killing of two Russian reporters who died last year while covering the conflict in Ukraine.
A spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, announced the new charges on July 7, along with charges of attempted murder and illegally entering Russian territory.
Savchenko has been in Russian custody since July 2014, when she alleges she was captured by pro-Russian gunmen in eastern Ukraine and smuggled across the border into Russia.
The charges against Savchenko could carry a life sentence.
She was previously accused by Russian authorities of complicity in the deaths of reporters Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin in Luhansk.
Savchenko has consistently denied the charges, saying Russia has no right to detain or try her.
Kyiv and Western governments have demanded that Russia release Savchenko immediately.
Markin said the Investigative Committee had completed its inquiry and sent the case to the prosecutor's office to pave the way for a trial.
Markin's statement came one day after Russian authorities rejected Savchenko's request to be tried by a jury, potentially placing her fate in the hands of a so-called troika -- a judge and two public representatives.
Savchenko's lawyer, Nikolai Polozov, said on July 6 that he was informed via telephone that "all the petitions have been denied and the case was transferred to the prosecutor's office."
Savchenko's defense team said last week the preliminary hearing might be held in late July or early August.
Savchenko conducted a hunger strike that lasted more than 80 days to protest her incarceration in Russia, sparking fears that she did irreversible damage to her health.
With reporting by Interfax
From Reuters:
UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER YATSENIUK SAYS A THREE-WAY AGREEMENT WITH EU, RUSSIA IS NEEDED TO GUARANTEE GAS TRANSIT VIA UKRAINE TO EUROPE