RIA Novosti: Ukraine Will Not Have Enough Stored Gas to Sustain Winter: Gazprom

Ukraine will not be able to fill its underground gas storage facilities with 18-20 billion cubic meters of natural gas necessary to sustain winter and ensure uninterrupted transit, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said Tuesday.

"As to the time left until the start of [the winter] consumption period, Ukraine will certainly not be able to fill in time its underground storage facilities with at least 18 billion [cubic meters], or better - 20 billion," Miller told reporters.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the date of the next round of Russia-Ukraine-European Union gas talks could be announced "in the next day or two".

Russia and Ukraine have been negotiating the date of the next meeting for the past few days, as Kiev is unsatisfied with the winter package proposed by Moscow and the European Commission during a ministerial gas meeting held in Berlin on September 26.
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