And here is an update from our news desk on the aid package Ukraine has agreed with the IMF:
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says the forthcoming aid packaged announced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on February 12 presupposes "very difficult" reforms to fight corruption, overhaul the energy sector, cut state expenditures, and reduce state bureaucracy.
His statement comes after IMF chief Christine Lagarde announced the IMF and Ukraine had reached a preliminary deal on a financial rescue plan worth $17.5 billion, part of an overall $40 billion funding package for the conflict-torn country in return for "bold policy reforms" by Kyiv.
Lagarde said that it is "an ambitious program; it is a tough program; and it is not without risk."
"But it is also a realistic program and its effective implementation...can represent a turning point for Ukraine," Lagarde said.
The deal still needs to be approved by the IMF's board of directors.
Kyiv is under pressure by the West to fight corruption and overhaul its finances, even as it battles pro-Russian separatist rebels in the east of the country.
( Reuters, AFP, dpa)
Meanwhile, in Crimea...
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- A court in Crimea's capital, Simferopol, has prolonged the pretrial detention for a deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis.
A district court in Simferopol ruled on February 11 that Ahtem Ciygoz must stay in pretrial detention until May 19.
Ciygoz was arrested on January 29 for what investigators said was organizing "mass disorder" in the regional capital, Simferopol, last year.
He was sent to pretrial detention until February 19.
Another Crimean Tatar activist, Iskender Kantemirov, was placed in two-month pretrial detention on February 8 on the same charge.
Crimean Tatars and other pro-Ukrainian activists clashed with pro-Russian activists near the parliament on February 26 last year.
(From the Crimean Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Nice cartoon illustrating this Moscow Times opinion piece: