Coal supplies from Donbas could be 500,000 tonnes in April – Demchyshyn

14:32, 01.04.2015 1 min read

Ukraine has managed to coordinate supplies of anthracite coal from areas of Donbas which are not under control of the Ukrainian authorities, and in April the amount of coal could be up to 500,000 tonnes, Energy and Coal Industry Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Demchyshyn has said.

"We don't need imports. Anthracite is coming from the occupied territories… Now we assess that in April we could receive up to 500,000 tonnes of anthracite from the [anti-terrorist operation (ATO)] zone, taking into account logistics, opportunities and stocks," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Demchyshyn said that coal has arrived in DTEK's plants from its Rovenkiantracit, Sverdlovantracit and Komsomolets Donbasu Mine, which has a total capacity of over 500,000 tonnes every month.

In addition, several state coalmines continue extracting coal in these territories, Demchyshyn said,

He said that payments are only settled via the Ukrainian banking system, and that wages are only paid via Ukrainian banks.