Ukraine is counting on direct gas deliveries from Turkmenistan beginning this year, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky said.

"We are counting on a resumption [of gas deliveries] this year," Stavytsky said during a Wednesday press conference in Kyiv.

Turkmenistan has about ten billion cubic meters of natural gas not contracted for with Russia or other countries, and that is what Ukraine is reckoning on, Stavytsky said.