3 December 2014, 10:50 GMT
KIEV, December 4 (Sputnik) – The Ukrainian government will buy 1 billion cubic meters of Russian gas by the end of the week, the country's energy ministry said Thursday.
Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchishin told US and EU envoys to the country at a meeting earlier in the day that "1 billion cubic meters of Russian gas will be purchased by the end of the week," the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine has been receiving gas through reverse flows from a number of European states since Russia switched Ukraine to a prepayment system in June, due to Kiev's $5.3 billion gas debt.
In late October, Ukraine, Russia and the European Union reached an interim deal on the delivery of Russian gas to Ukraine during winter. However, Ukraine has not started purchasing Russian gas yet, and is currently using its own reserves and reverse flows deliveries.
In November, former Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said that the country was planning to buy about 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia by the end of 2014.
On December 3, Demchishin said that the Ukrainian government expected to repay its gas debt to Russia by the end of the year.
Pricing Russian Gas for Ukraine
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