61.  Meanwhile, Western leaders also have stepped up efforts to pull Ukraine closer to NATO, and some Ukrainian officials have warmed to the idea in recent months.

62.  Meanwhile, experts last month urged Ukrainian officials to allow fewer tax exemptions and to be more aggressive in tax collection.

63.  Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials complain that nearly half of the ships and equipment they received from the fleet is in serious need of repair.

64.  Monday was spent in meetings with President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk and other senior Ukrainian officials.

65.  NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana will visit Ukraine next week in the first official visit by a NATO head to the former Soviet republic, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday.

66.  NATO officials in Sarajevo refused to release the findings of the investigation, insisting the details should be released by Ukrainian officials.

67.  On Friday, for the first time, a Ukrainian official admitted that the plane may have been hit by Ukrainian fire.

68.  On Wednesday, Ukrainian naval officials accused the Black Sea Fleet Command of illegally removing valuable technology from its units and selling it to commercial structures.

69.  Other Ukrainian officials have said that if Russia raises its tariffs for nuclear waste reprocessing, Ukraine would work on building domestic storage facilities.

70.  Prime Minister Valery Pustovoitenko on Wednesday banned Ukrainian officials from traveling abroad without his personal permission, a news agency reported.