Kyiv makes crucial Eurobond payment 

KYIV – Ukraine has made a crucial Eurobond interest payment that kept the war-torn country from slipping into technical default and potential isolation from global credit markets. Agence France-Presse reported that money to cover the $120 million debt was transferred as soon as business hours began in Kyiv on July 24. Cash-strapped Ukraine now has two more months to negotiate a debt-restructuring deal before it faces a tougher deadline to make principal and interest payments of more than $500 million on another note on September 23. Franklin Templeton and three other U.S. financial giants own about two-thirds of the debt upon which Ukraine is trying to find savings of $15.3 billion during the coming four years. That target is part of a $40 billion global package the International Monetary Fund (IMF) patched together to help Ukraine avoid an economic implosion exasperated by the war with pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. The IMF signaled on July 23 that it could release $1.7 billion in fresh funds next week even if Ukraine failed to reach the private-sector debt-relief deal. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Reuters)