Ukraine gets major debt relief, except Russia

Struggling against Russia-backed separatists and a shrinking economy, Ukrainian officials said Thursday that they had secured major debt relief from the country’s creditors.

Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said at a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Kiev, that the special committee of creditors had agreed after months of negotiation to write off 20 percent of Ukraine’s $18 billion in bonds held by the foreign lenders and to postpone the next payment deadlines on most of the rest until 2019, the Ukrinform news agency reported.