News Digest

Ukraine says Russia has agreed to supply gas

The Ukrainian president has said his country has reached an agreement with Russia on supplies of natural gas for the winter. When Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in June over unpaid bills, it raised the risk that Ukraine would be left without heating during the coldest months of the year. It also raised fears that Russia could cut off flows to Europe if Ukraine began siphoning off gas from the pipelines crossing its territory, as has happened during past gas disputes. President Petro Poroshenko said in a television interview late Saturday that Russia has agreed to supply Ukraine with gas through March 31 at a price of $385 per 1,000 cubic metres.

I can say that Ukraine will have gas, Ukraine will have heating.

President Petro Poroshenko

Poroshenko said he expected the deal to be signed during the next round of European Union-mediated gas talks, to be held Tuesday in Brussels. Following Europe-brokered talks in Italy on Friday, Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin reported progress on both a definitive peace settlement in eastern Ukraine and on settling the gas dispute. Alexei Miller, the CEO of the Russian state gas company Gazprom, said the leaders agreed that Ukraine would pay back $3.1 billion by the end of the year. It was not clear, however, where Ukraine would get the money.