During an 11 month period in 2017, Ukraine increased its imports of goods from Russia (in monetary terms, compared to the same period in 2016) by 38.6%, to $ 6.3 billion, the National Bank of Ukraine reports.

At the same time, exports of goods to Russia during this period increased by 11.9% to $ 3.06 billion, while overall trade turnover increased by 28.6% to $ 9.36 billion.

The balance of trade with the Russian Federation for the first 11 months of last year was negative for Ukraine and …

The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied the Russian Embassy’s request to open additional polling stations for Russia’s presidential elections.

ERR reports that Sandra Kamilova, a spokesperson for the Estonian Foreign Ministry, confirmed this decision to the news service Radio 4.

"Representatives of foreign countries operating in Estonia have the right to hold elections only with the permission of the Estonian Foreign Ministry. They [the elections] may only be conducted in their …

The Ukrainian embassy in Warsaw has refuted the statement by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki that there are tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

A statement to this effect was made by Svetlana Krysa, chief of the consulate department of the Ukrainian embassy to Poland, in an interview for the TV channel 112 Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

Krysa claims that compared to previous years, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland and of those wanting to acquire international …

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko announced that the much-anticipated defensive lethal weapons from the United States would be supplied to Ukraine in 2018. He posted on Facebook that “Next year, the military budget of our country will be a record 86 billion hryvnia ($3 billion). We will receive lethal defensive weapons from our partners in the United States."

Poroshenko expressed confidence that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would continue to replenish their arsenal with the latest military …

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has vetoed a bill on combating corruption and confiscating illegally acquired property, Deutsche Welle reports.

On Tuesday, January 2, the presidential press office relayed that the document was thus returned to the National Assembly (parliament) for discussion.

Radev believes that the measures provided by law are insufficient for effectively combating corruption, and that they also deviate from provisions of the country's constitution and international …

The United States of America clamored for justice to be brought to those responsible for the murder of human rights defender Iryna Nozdrovska, stated the US Embassy’s message on Twitter.

"Shocked and saddened by the murder of human rights defender Iryna Nozdrovska, we express our deepest condolences to her relatives and close ones. The guilty must be held accountable," the statement said.

The body of Nozdrovska was discovered in the Vyshgorodsky district of the Kyiv region on January 1. She …

The German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel is set to visit Ukraine on January 3- 4 this year. During his visit, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin plans to discuss with him the issue of the release of Ukrainian political prisoners detained in Russian prisons.

As the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reports, "the role of Germany, together with France, under the Normandy format in countering Russian aggression will be a key subject of the …

On January 1st 3,300 foreigners passed the through the biometric control system upon entering Ukraine; about 1,900 of them were citizens of the Russian Federation, as indicated by the spokesperson of the State Border Guard Service, Oleh Slobodyan, on 112 Ukraine.

"During the first 24 hours of operation of the biometric control system, more than 3,300 foreigners who are subject to this system crossed the border, almost 1,900 of them were Russian citizens." The system worked without failures and …