In the first week of May two human rights organizations, the Paris-based Reporters Without Frontiers and the Kyiv-based Institute of Mass Information, released reports on the state of media freedom in the world and in the CIS and Ukraine respectively. The picture both organizations provide... MORE

A debate has raged in Ukraine this month over the authenticity of poll numbers for Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Kuchma candidate in this year's October election. Pro-opposition activists have questioned how Yanukovych's ratings could have grown so suddenly and nearly reached those of the main opposition... MORE

Ukraine's prosecutor general is to report to parliament on May 12. He has already claimed that his office has undertaken 600 interviews during the course of its investigation into irregularities that occurred during the April 18 election in Mukachevo. Nevertheless, since the election, violent attacks... MORE

In mid May, former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski is scheduled to visit Kyiv along with Deputy Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky. Former U.S. President George Bush will likewise travel to Ukraine on a private visit. Other recent U.S. visitors have included former Secretary... MORE

On April 28, a presidential decree was issued entitled On the Strategy for Economic and Social Development of Ukraine "Through the Path of European Integration between 2004-2015." Such grandiose programs are nothing new in Ukrainian foreign policy and reflect the deep seated Soviet political culture... MORE

Early next week, on May 10, Ukraine's Security Service and Interior Ministry are to report to President Leonid Kuchma regarding responsibility for large scale infringements of election and other laws that occurred on April 18, during the repeat elections for mayor of the Trans-Carpathian town... MORE

On April 28 the Ukrainian contingent in Iraq lost an additional two soldiers, bringing its total to three. These most recent deaths followed the kidnapping of five Ukrainian citizens working for the Russian company Interenergoservis in Baghdad. Some 1,700 Ukrainian troops are based in the... MORE