Ukraine will be able to meet its demand for natural gas this winter using gas shipments from Europe even if Russia decides to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, Naftogaz of Ukraine Chairman Andriy Kobolev wrote on his Facebook account on Monday evening.

"We will be able to provide for Ukraine's gas needs this winter from the European direction. And next winter. And any other [winter]. Diversification and the gas market really work," Kobolev said.

Kobolev also said he was greatly surprised to receive numerous questions from different people, who wanted to know what would happen "if our gas supplies are cut off on the part of the Russian Federation."

It was reported that Ukraine stopped supplying electricity to Crimea on November 21 after power lines had been blown up.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on November 23 that Russia could consider response measures with regard to Ukraine in light of the current power outage in Crimea.

Russian gas giant Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller, for his part, said that Ukraine had prepaid gas left only for a few days, after which, if no further payments are made, Gazprom would stop deliveries to Naftogaz.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said that he saw no need to pay Russia's Gazprom in advance for gas deliveries for the period until the end of the fourth quarter of 2015 because Ukraine had sufficient gas reserves in its storage facilities and hoped for a reduction in the price for Russian gas in the first quarter of 2016.