Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich went on sick leave on Thursday with an acute respiratory ailment, leaving a political vacuum in a country destabilized by anti-government protests.

• January 30, 2014

Russia will honor its pledge to lend Ukraine $15 billion and reduce the price of gas it supplies to its neighbor even if the opposition forms the next government, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.

• January 29, 2014

Ukraine's interim prime minister pledged on Wednesday to work to limit damage to the economy from more than two months of turmoil and said he expected Russia to disburse a further $2 billion of aid "very soon".

• January 29, 2014

South Korea approved on Wednesday a $7 billion project to build two nuclear plants, a boost for an industry struggling to emerge from the shadow of Japan's Fukushima disaster and the first approval since a policy review sparked by a safety scandal at domestic reactors.

• January 29, 2014

Ukraine is borrowing another $2 billion from Russia on the same terms as a $3 billion Eurobond sold in December, in a sign that Moscow is pushing on with a $15 billion bailout despite concern about violence at anti-government protests in Kiev.

• January 28, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the European Union's top two officials were set to hold "clear the air" talks in Brussels on Tuesday after months of growing tension over Ukraine and trade and energy disputes.

• January 28, 2014

Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov offered his resignation to President Viktor Yanukovich on Tuesday, saying he hoped his departure would help towards a peaceful settlement to two months of unrest which has convulsed the former Soviet republic.

• January 28, 2014

European Union and Russian leaders will trade recriminations over Ukraine at a summit on Tuesday, as the former Soviet republic reels from violent unrest after spurning the EU's embrace and lurching back towards Moscow.

• January 27, 2014