Ukraine fully ensures the transit of Russian gas to Europe and is not going to take the gas for its own needs, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan has said.

"We hear various statements from Gazprom that reverse supplies are not legitimate, but then the European Commission makes a statement that reverse supplies are legitimate and comply not only with European legislation, but also probably with Russian legislation... And again about statements by the Kremlin. There were previous statements that we will begin to take [the gas] on the next day. Now we do not take this gas and are not going to take it," he told journalists on Wednesday.

Russian Presidential Administration head Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday that Kyiv would start "stealing" gas from the transit pipeline to Europe in fall.

"We know from our experience that, when fall and winter come and Ukraine will lack gas, they [Kyiv] will start, excuse the banal word, stealing it," Ivanov said on Wednesday at a meeting with students studying the Russian language in the Russian language center of the Beijing university of foreign languages.