Ubisoft announced today that they will be opening a new studio in Kiev, Ukraine. This will be the publisher's third Eastern European studio and the fifth new studio in the last few months. Ubisoft Kiev already has a team of a dozen developers led by Vitalii Blazheiev that have contributed to Blazing Angels: Secret Missions of WWII and will also work on the PC version of Tom Clancy's HAWX with Ubisoft Bucharest.

"We have had a very positive experience in Eastern Europe, as the quality of the upcoming Tom Clancy's HAWX developed by our Bucharest studio can attest," said Christine Burgess-Quemard, executive director, worldwide studios at Ubisoft. "Having seen the potential demonstrated by the Sofia studio's first projects, it was only natural for us to pursue our expansion in this region and attract a new pool of highly-skilled talents to the group."

Ubisoft said that initially, the Kiev studio will directly collaborate with Ubisoft Bucharest and will operate under Sebastien Delen, Managing Director of Ubisoft Bucharest and Ubisoft Sofia. Ubisoft plans to have 50 people in the Kiev studio within the next 12 months. Overall, the publisher is anticipating around 800 people in its various Eastern European studios by 2009.