Russian natural gas giant Gazprom said on Tuesday it had reached a deal with Ukraine on settling the latter's gas debt after a week-long dispute.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has asked the parties represented in the newly-elected parliament to come up with proposals for a new coalition government within five days.

The final votes in Ukraine's parliamentary elections were counted on Friday, with pro-West blocs gathering enough votes to form a coalition government. Following elections on September 30, five blocs made it into the Supreme Rada, with the pro-Russian Party of Regions headed by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych leading with 34.32%.

With less than half a percent of ballots still uncounted in Ukraine's special parliamentary election, President Viktor Yushchenko has called for the country's three leading parties to begin coalition talks. But with at least five parties factoring into any coalition, the orientation of the next Ukrainian government is difficult to predict.

MTS Ukraine, a leading Ukrainian mobile operator (NYCE: MBT), Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the launch of the BlackBerry® wireless solution in Ukraine.

Ukraine's Orange Revolution allies are likely to win parliamentary elections. Near-final results show that they will be able to form a strong coalition to unseat Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Gazprom could reduce natural gas supplies to Ukraine in October if the country fails to settle its $1.3 billion debt, the Russian energy giant said in a press release Tuesday.

Ukraine's president ordered an investigation into vote counting from a parliamentary election on Monday as his rival the prime minister and his allies in the pro-Western opposition both claimed victory.

A possible coalition of two pro-Western parties in Ukraine appears to be holding a slim lead over the party of the country's pro-Russia prime minister and its likely partners.

Ukraine's Electoral Commission says Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's ruling party has edged slightly ahead of the opposition in the latest results of Sunday's parliamentary elections.

With almost 33% of the votes counted in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, the party of the former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, leads with 33.24%, the Central Election Commission said Monday.

After five months of political infighting, Ukraine will once again try to elect a parliamentary government. Ukrainians go to the polls Sunday, 30 September, in yet another attempt to break the deadlock that has consumed the political process since the Orange Revolution in 2004.