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Ukraine may return to international debt markets in the second half of the year after it receives a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Oleksandr Shlapak said.

The eastern European nation will sell Eurobonds for the first time since April 2013 if market conditions improve, Shlapak told reporters today in the capital, Kiev. Yields of 6 percent to 7 percent for five-year bonds would be acceptable, he said.

Ukraine is facing a third recession in six years, while its currency has lost more than 27 percent against the dollar amid four months of street protests and Russias annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Government bonds have rallied after last weeks preliminary pact with the IMF to unlock $27 billion of international aid.

Yields on Ukraines dollar debt due in 2017 fell one basis point to 8.587 percent today, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Bonds that mature in June advanced to 98 cents on the dollar from 97.5, pushing the yield down to 20.302 percent.

The hryvnia was little changed at 11.3475 per dollar and probably wont weaken further, according to Shlapak, who said the exchange rate may average 10.5 this year.

The Washington-based IMFs board is due to approve a loan of as much as $18 billion this month in return for a more flexible exchange rate and spending cuts. The government envisages a budget deficit of 4.8 percent of gross domestic product this year, while debt will increase by 129 billion hryvnia ($11 billion) as the currency weakens, Shlapak said.

To repay the debt, the Finance Ministry will borrow domestically and abroad, according to the minister. The government will also sell 1 billion hryvnia of two-year bonds at about 7 percent to finance the army, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net Andrew Langley, Paul Abelsky

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Ukraine May Sell Eurobonds After Getting IMF Loan, Minister Says

Ukraine's deposed President Viktor Yanukovych says Russia's annexation of Crimea is "a tragedy" and he hopes it will become part of Ukraine again.

In an interview with the Associated Press and Russian channel NTV, he also said he gave no orders to open fire on protesters in the capital, Kiev.

Mr Yanukovych fled Kiev after protests in which more than 100 people died.

Meanwhile, a top Nato commander says Russian forces could seize swathes of Ukraine in three to five days.

Moscow is believed to have massed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine's eastern border in recent days, causing alarm in Kiev and the West.

General Philip Breedlove, Nato's top commander in Europe, said all the elements were in place for a rapid advance, including armour, mechanised units, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and all the logistics needed to back them up.

Russia annexed Crimea in southern Ukraine last month following a controversial referendum branded illegal by Kiev and the West. The peninsula has a majority ethnic Russian population.

Moscow has insisted it has no intention of invading Ukraine.

'Protest vote'

Mr Yanukovych, now in Russia, said he would try to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to return Crimea to Ukraine.

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Ukraine Crisis: Viktor Yanukovych Decries Crimea 'Tragedy'

In an interview with The Associated Press and Russia's state NTV television, Ukraine's ousted president Yanukovych said Wednesday, "Crimea is a tragedy, a major tragedy."

In his first interview since fleeing to Russia, he vowed to try and persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to return the Black Sea peninsula.

However, he insisted the referendum wouldn't have happened if he had stayed in power and that it was a response to threats posed by radical nationalists in Ukraine.

Yanukovych fled Ukraine in February after three months of escalating anti-government protests sparked by his decision to back out of an association treaty with the EU in favor of strengthening ties with Russia.

'I was wrong'

Yanukovych also said it was a mistake to have invited Russian troops into Crimea.

"I was wrong," he said. "I acted on my emotions."

Yanukovych said he has spoken with Putin several times since he arrived in Russia and said he hopes to have more meetings to negotiate Crimea's return to Ukraine.

"We must search for ways ... so that Crimea may have the maximum degree of independence possible ... but be part of Ukraine," he said.

Russian troops quickly seized Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority. Putin justified the move as protection for the mainly Russia-speaking population.

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Ukraine's ousted president, Yanukovych, calls Crimea annexation a 'tragedy'

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