Soros ready to pour $1 bn into Ukraine

US financier George Soros said Monday he was ready to invest $1 billion in Ukraine if the West promised to help the embattled country. "Ukraine is defending the EU from Russian aggression" and helping its development will weaken Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Hungarian-born philanthropist said in remarks published in German by the Austrian business daily Der Standard. He said Ukraine needed 50 billion euros to get itself back on its feet, and said he was prepared to pump $1 bill