Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has accused President Viktor Yushchenko of illegal interference in the parliamentary election campaign and his team of harboring plans to rig the vote in the September 30 parliamentary election. Ironically, three years ago it was Yushchenko who held Yanukovych responsible... MORE

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has accused Moscow of hindering the investigation into his poisoning in 2004. What’s more, he hinted that Russia might actually have been behind the poisoning. An indignant Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian ambassador to Ukraine, said that Russia was not involved and suggested... MORE

Ukraine’s parliamentary elections on September 30 are unlikely to bring overwhelming victories for either the “orange” camp of Our Ukraine-Self Defense and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc or the “blue” camp of the Party of Regions. Ukraine’s regional and linguistic divide makes such a landslide unlikely;... MORE

The Party of Regions (PRU), led by Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, has come up with a plan for a referendum touching on the sensitive issues of language, NATO membership, and local governance. The party’s rivals have been skeptical about the referendum: President Viktor Yushchenko... MORE

Ukraine’s most popular opposition politician, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is pushing for a referendum to change the constitution. She wants the vote to be held simultaneously with the early parliamentary election on September 30. President Viktor Yushchenko also wants a referendum, but he believes... MORE

Ukraine’s September 30 parliamentary elections will decide the country’s next government and most likely determine the outcome of the presidential elections two years later. As seasoned Zerkalo nedeli commentator Serhiy Rakhmanin pointed out, the “pre-term parliamentary campaign gives [President Viktor] Yushchenko a great opportunity to... MORE

The campaign for the September 30 parliamentary elections officially kicked off in Ukraine on August 2. This campaign will see the same contenders as in the March 2006 election: President Viktor Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc (NUNS), except last year it was just Our Ukraine,... MORE

Post-Soviet railway problems made headlines when Ukraine announced a hazardous materials emergency after a train carrying toxic chemicals crashed on July 16 in the country's Western Lviv region (see EDM, July 23). Fifteen tankers carrying liquid yellow phosphorous derailed, and six caught fire. The train... MORE

Several prosecutors and courts recently decided high-profile cases in favor of individuals who were prosecuted when President Viktor Yushchenko came to power in 2005. At the same time, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor-General’s Office, which is controlled by individuals hailing from Donetsk,... MORE

Ukraine’s orange elites are facing a growing scandal surrounding Yuriy Lutsenko, head of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense bloc (NUNS). Lutsenko allegedly lobbied on behalf of Ukrainian New Telecommunications (UNTC) when he was interior minister. Lutsenko’s wife is UNTC’s financial director, and the company... MORE