Kiev- State revenue in Ukraine plummeted in January due to a wide-reaching economic slowdown, a senior government official said Monday.

Government income was down 80 per cent as compared to 2008, with no relief in sight, said Roman Besmertny, senior economic advisor to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

The single-month drop in real official collections was the worst since Ukraine's years of hyper-inflation in the early 1990s, he said.

Kiev- Ukraine's natural gas pipeline system needs an additional injection of fuel before deliveries to Europe can resume, a senior official in Kiev said Wednesday.

"We have asked for the assistance of the European Commission in resolving the problem of 'technical gas'," said Yury Prodan, Ukraine's Minister of Fuel and Energy.

"This is gas without which it is impossible to make transit shipments (to Europe)," he said.

Moscow/Kiev  - Russia on Saturday approved a European Union initiative for international observers to monitor Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

But the mandate - a key demand by Moscow to lift its embargo of gas supplies - must still be approved by the Ukraine.

Kiev - Ukraine will send Bulgaria and Moldova gas from its own reserves, according to a statement Saturday from the office of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

The two Balkan nations will receive two million cubic metres of gas per day beginning Saturday, according to the statement.

The decision once effective will re-open supplies to Bulgaria and Moldova after a partial Russian cut-off beginning in early January, becoming a total shut-off on Thursday.

Kiev - A team of European Union observers arrived in Ukraine on Friday to monitor gas shipments from Russia though the former Soviet republic to EU nations, Korrespondent magazine reported.

The team of technicians landing at Kiev's Boryspil airport was set to act as independent monitors at the six main natural-gas pipeline crossing points from Russia to Ukraine, and at the headquarters of Ukrainian natural-gas monopolist Naftogaz Ukraine.

Kiev - Spot fuel shortages were on the increase in Ukraine on Friday, as Kiev and Moscow moved towards an agreement on natural gas shipments to the former Soviet republic.

Diesel fuel reserves for public heating plants were, according to local politicians, down to two days' supply in the capital Kiev, as officials scrambled to keep homes and businesses warm during Russia's natural gas embargo.

Hot water to millions of homes had been cut off to residents of the provincial cities Zhitomyr, Zaporizhia and Chernovtsi owing to low pressure in gas lines needed to fire water-heating plants.