You're reading: Ukraine accuses Russia of illegal gas supply to Donbas

Brussels - Ukraine continues to accuse Russia of illegal supplying gas to the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine.

“In the agreement between Gazprom and Naftogaz the procedure according to which the supplies are provided is clearly defined: how a request for gas volume is made, for which supply lines and by what means they are approved. At this moment, Ukraine acts according to this procedure. All other supplies are made on an unapproved procedure. We don’t understand what is going on,” Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn said to journalists after trilateral talks with the Vice President of the European Commission for Energy Maros Sefcovic and the Russia Energy Minister Alexander Novak.

Demchyshyn said that according to previous agreements, the volume of gas supplied to the ATO zone wouldn’t be included in the so called “winter package” of gas supplies to Ukraine.

“With that Russians don’t want to close this question” Demchyshyn said, adding that the Russian representatives had no answer as to who will pay for the gas which has already been supplied, and how the supplies will be paid for.

The minister also said that no one could state for certain how much gas had been already supplied to the ATO zone.