Ukraine, EU to sign political part of association agreement soon

Kiev will sign political chapters of an association agreement with the European Union (EU) soon, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said here Friday.

"The signing will take place in the shortest possible period, literally within a few weeks," Xinhua quoted Yatsenyuk as saying in a media conference on the results of his recent visit to Brussels.

To help the Ukrainian economy stay afloat, the EU will provide Kiev with financial aid of around $15 billion, Yatsenyuk said.

The 28-member bloc has suggested opening its market unilaterally to some Ukrainian goods, namely crops and food, Yatsenyuk said, adding that such a step could provide $400 million a year to the crisis-hit Ukrainian economy.

The political association and economic integration agreement between Ukraine and the EU should have been signed at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, last November.

Then president Viktor Yanukovych rejected the agreement with the EU and chose a bailout loan package from Russia, which fuelled massive anti-government protests that eventually led to the overthrow of his government.