Ukrainian

MOSCOW -- After months of tough negotiations, pro-Western parties that led Ukraine's Orange Revolution reached agreement yesterday on restoring a coalition that would return former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to power. "We won democracy for Ukraine by approving this decision today," Tymoshenko told parliament as she and other coalition leaders announced the agreement. The country's new parliament faces a Saturday deadline to approve the deal, which could fall apart because of tensions within the coalition.

Watching NFL players dance can be awe-inspiring. Or it can be like watching hippos on rollerblades. Donald Driver, Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith were terrific on "Dancing with the Stars. " So was Warren Sapp, who turned out to be a 300-pound Michael Jackson without the emotional baggage. But Lawrence Taylor looked like he was trying to start a balky lawnmower engine when he danced the jive. And Michael Irvin showed all the hip action of a geriatric patient doing the cha-cha. Now the latest football player to join the show is Jacoby Jones, who wants to see if his famous swivel-hipped end zone celebrations can help him on dancing's biggest stage.

They play like the Red Army team that dominated international hockey for two decades. They use a quick-passing, attacking-from-transition style taken right out of any respected European hockey manual. Their record against teams from North America -- 102-5 in the past year -- and the scores they regularly inflict on their opponents would impress Mario Lemieux.Yet the record and methodical fashion in which they pick apart their opponents' weaknesses are not the most intriguing features to this Ukrainian hockey team.

KIEV, Ukraine -- In an election upset that could change Ukraine's relations both with the West and with Moscow, voters here have turned out incumbent President Leonid M. Kravchuk and replaced him with Leonid D. Kuchma, a pro-Russian former factory manager and prime minister.The election underscored the deep split between east and west Ukraine, a stark reality in a 30-month-old nation that possesses a giant military, a still-considerable nuclear arsenal and a huge identity crisis.In Lviv, in the nationalist west, Mr. Kravchuk won by 93.7 percent to 3.9 percent, according to unofficial results reported yesterday.

Just mentioning peanut butter cream pie can conjure up a big fat guilt trip. To shorten the ride, think about a bowl of Ukrainian borscht.From Westminster, O. Hargraves asked for the pie recipe. And the borscht was the request of Charles E. Hopwood III of Baltimore, who wrote that he wanted a "Ukrainian borscht similar to the one I had in the Russian restaurant Moscow Night before it closed. It was a wonderful garnet-colored thin beet soup that was spiced and served with a big dollop of sour cream in the center.

MOSCOW - Smugglers in Ukraine shipped 18 cruise missiles, each capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, to Iran and China at the beginning of the decade, Ukrainian prosecutors said yesterday. The apparent sale to Iran of 12 Soviet-era Kh55 cruise missiles, which have a range of 1,860 miles, probably will add to concerns in Washington, D.C., over alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons in Iran. Allegations of the sales surfaced last month in comments by a Ukrainian legislator, but public confirmation by the administration of President Viktor A. Yushchenko came only yesterday.

Helen F. Knipp, 93, aide to Sunpapers editor-in-chief Helen F. Knipp, former administrative assistant to the editor-in-chief of The Sunpapers, died Jan. 11 at Edenwald retirement community in Towson of heart failure. The former longtime resident of the Pinehurst community of North Baltimore was 93. Mrs. Knipp began her career in 1963 as an editorial assistant to A. D. Emmart, associate editor of The Sun. After his retirement in 1971, she was administrative assistant to Price Day, who was editor-in-chief of The Sunpapers from 1960 to 1975.

KIEV, U.S.S.R. -- On the eve of the Ukraine's referendum to declare independence from the Soviet Union, officials of the republic have significantly scaled down their plans to create a powerful Ukrainian army.Leonid M. Kravchuk, the Ukrainian leader who is the front-runner to be elected president in the balloting today, has steadily reduced his talking estimate of an independent army from more than 400,000 members to about 90,000.At the same time, parliamentary and military officials of the republic stressed yesterday that they had just joined a tentative agreement with other republics and the Kremlin pledging that while independent armies of self-defense could be created by the republics, there remained a need for a collective strategic military force run by the republic and union authorities.

MAGOTHY COOPERATIVE Nursery School is sponsoring a juried craft fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow at Magothy United Meth- odist Church fellowship hall.The handiwork of more than 20 artisans will be featured.Items include Ukrainian eggs; bird, bat and butterfly houses and feeders; wooden trolls; painted clothing for adults and children; specialty chocolates; lathe art; etched glass; handmade pottery; and Native American art and jewelry, said Donna Madej, school spokeswoman.The nursery school will be selling baked goods, refreshments and toys.