Ukraine could pass the 2015/2016 winter heating season without purchasing natural gas from Gazprom if the weather is warm, Ukraine's Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn has said at a press conference in Kyiv.

According to him, this is one of the scenarios developed by Ukrainian authorities, but the weather is frosty and the country will still need supplies of Russian gas to meet peak demand.

"We can allow certain scenarios, when the outside temperature is not low, there won't be extreme sub-zero temperatures, when for some reason consumption is reduced... We hope that next year it will be much easier for us to pass the winter heating season and we will be able to pass it without Russian gas," the minister said.

At the same time, Demchyshyn noted that Ukraine currently has to buy gas from Russia to pass the heating season stably and without incidents.