"We have lived through the winter, we bought only 2 billion [cubic meters of gas]…the last purchase was at a price of less than $300 [per cubic meter]. As a result, it all came down to the Russian Federation having had to apply for a pumping volume increase of 68%…And today we will buy gas for $245 under reverse deliveries," Poroshenko said.
Russia halted gas supplies to Ukraine last year in June over the country's debt that exceeded $5 billion. Until December, Ukraine received gas in reverse flows from a number of neighboring European countries.
A total of 5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas flowed from the European Union to Ukraine in 2014, according to the European Commission.
On December 9, Russia resumed gas sales to Kiev under the so-called winter package, which required Ukraine to repay $3.1 billion of its debt and pay for future supplies in advance.
At the end of January, the European Commission announced that Ukraine could start importing up to 40 million cubic meters of gas daily from the European Union.
Ukraine currently receives reverse flow Russian gas from Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. Transport capacities from Slovakia are generally at full. Poland can deliver up to 4 million cubic meters a day.
Gas supplies from Hungary were resumed on January 10 after an almost three-month stop and currently stand at some 3 million cubic meters a day.
