Government to continue supplying gas, power to rebel-controlled areas of Donbas

Photo: Reuters

The Ukrainian government will continue supplying gas and electricity to the rebel-controlled areas of Donbas, despite the absence of any payments, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

"I'd like to express the position of the government, my position – we've discussed this. We have our citizens there and the government will not allow these people to freeze, as this will lead to the humanitarian catastrophe. These are our territories, these are our people and we'll deal with terrorists separately. Winter is at hand and if we behave severely, this will be first severely towards our citizens. We'll supply gas and electricity there," he said.

Yatseniuk said that when Ukraine resumes control over the territories, subsidies and benefits will be cut by the cost of electricity and gas delivered.

As reported, referring to Naftogaz Ukrainy, in September the rebel-controlled areas consumed 27 million cubic meters of gas and around 100 cubic meters in October.

By the end of this year around 1 billion cubic meters of gas could go to the district, which will cause Naftogaz Ukrainy's losses of UAH 6-7 billion.

Naftogaz Ukrainy has a technical possibility of restricting gas supplies to the said territories.