Kiev/Chisinau - Ukraine has extradited a pair of Moldovan nationals suspected of organising violent anti-government protests in Chisinau, a Ukrainian official confirmed Thursday.

Businessman Gabriel Stati and his associate Auren Marinescu have been returned to the Moldovan capital "and are no longer on Ukrainian territory," said Oleksander Shinalsky, a spokesman for the Prosecutor General's office.

Kiev/Chisinau - Ukraine will extradite back home a pair of Moldovans suspected of organising violent anti-government protests, a government official said Wendesday.

Moldovan businessman Gabriel Stati and his associate Auren Marinescu could be returned to Chisinau "as early as tomorrow," said Oleksander Shinalsky, a spokesman for the Prosecutor General's office.

Kiev - Former French footballing great Michel Platini on Wednesday said a pair of Ukrainian sides had an edge over their French opponents in Thursday's UEFA Cup quarter-finals.

"I have to say the Ukrainians have a certain advantage," the European football boss Platini told a news conference in Kiev.

Shakhtar Donetsk visit Olympique Marseille with a 2-0 cushion from the first leg while Dynamo Kiev take on Paris St Germain after drawing 0-0 last week in Paris.

Kiev - Ukrainian border police have intercepted a record load of smuggled cigarettes, Korrespondent magazine reported Wednesday. Law enforcers at the Chop border crossing inspecting vehicles traveling from the former Soviet republic into the Czech Republic late Tuesday night discovered more than 220,000 packages of L&M cigarettes concealed in a rail car.

Kiev - New loans to Ukraine's cash-strapped government remain difficult to approve, despite recent attempts at market reforms in country, a senior fund official said Tuesday. "We are continuing our discussions... but at this point is is premature to say, when it might be possible," said Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission head in Ukraine.

Kiev - Cash shortages have left Ukraine's military unable to feed peacekeeping troops deployed overseas, Sehodnia newspaper reported Friday. Ukraine's Ministry of Defence for peacekeeper troop maintenance has thus far been budgeted 9.2 million dollars, against a planned 40 million dollars, said Viktor Korendonovych, an Army spokesman.

"At this rate, we will not be able to feed out troops past May," he said.

Peacekeeping operations affected by the shortage would include Ukrainian troop deployments to Liberia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.