Activists have clashed with riot police in the the Ukrainian capital Kiev over a controversial law that upgrades the status of the Russian language and which critics say would undermine the Ukrainian tongue.

Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko, should turn to an entirely new team of technocrats, not politicians, to form the next government, Parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn said today.

Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko shot himself today, hours before prosecutors were to question him about the killing of an investigative journalist five years ago.

Ukraine’s former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko was found dead today, hours before prosecutors were to question him about the killing of an investigative journalist five years ago, officials said.

Ukraine’s parliament adopted electoral and constitutional changes today in a compromise intended to defuse the nation’s political crisis – prompting opposition leaders to say they would lift a blockade of government buildings.