Ukraine has not yet made advance payment for March gas supplies and could be left without gas, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told reporters.

"Ukraine has not made prepayment for gas on time. As of today, only 219 million cubic meters of prepaid gas is left. It takes around two days for funds from Naftogaz Ukrainy to reach Gazprom's account. Therefore to supply the 114 mcm of gas that Ukraine has requested will result in a total end to supplies of Russian gas to Ukraine in just two days, which poses serious risks for gas transit to Europe," he said.

Naftogaz imported 20 mcm of gas from Gazprom per day in the first week of February, rising to 30 mcm in the middle of the month and more than 46 mcm at the weekend.

Nazftogaz has said it ordered 114 mcm of gas for February 22 but received just 47 mcm.

Gazprom calculated at the start of the month that the February supplies might run to 715 mcm. Ukrainian pipeline operator Urtransgaz has said the country imported 652 mcm in the first 22 days of February.

Also, starting on February 19, Russia has been supplying 12 mcm of gas per day directly to Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions after Naftogaz suspended supplies. Gazprom treats these supplies as part of the contract with Naftogaz, but Naftogaz does not take these volumes into account, as a result of which estimates about how much prepaid gas has been supplied differ.