Analysis: Ukraine's $13.4 billion soccer spend might become debt burden

Ukraine may never recover all of the billions of dollars it has spent to co-host next month's European soccer championship and the outlay might complicate its chances of servicing its debt. The staging ...

Ukraine will take a first major step away from dependency on Russian gas supplies on Thursday when it seals a $10 billion shale gas deal with Royal Dutch Shell. Due to be signed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the production sharing agreement will mark the biggest contract yet to tap shale gas in Europe and the largest single foreign investment in the former Soviet republic.

The team of Ukraine's new President Viktor Yanukovych pledged Wednesday to revive cooperation with the International Monetary Fund as it met with an IMF mission in Kiev.Last year, the Washington-based Fund refused to release the latest tranche of a 16.4-billion-dollar rescue loan for the crisis-battered former Soviet republic amid criticism of Ukraine's fiscal policies.

Soccer fans are expecting a major event this summer: the final tournament for the biggest European soccer championship, Euro 2012. For the first time UEFA is having the tournament in a land that for decades has been behind the Iron Curtain: Poland and Ukraine. For co-hosting countries, the preparation for the tournament brought positive developments ...

KIEV (Reuters) - An International M

By Stoyan Bojinov:One of the most anticipated and watched sporting events in the world, the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship kicked off late last week. Euro 2012 marks a milestone for first-time host countries Ukraine and Poland, and many are hoping that the soccer tournament brings prosperity and inspires hope in the debt-burdened continent.