Russia agrees to exclude ATO zone from agreement on power exchange –Ukraine's energy minister

12:31, 07.07.2015 1 min read

Ukraine has managed to hold fairly successful negotiations with Russia to suspend the supply of electricity to the uncontrolled territory in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said.

"We've had fairly successful negotiations with the Russians: we have managed to cut off the four power lines which were feeding the uncontrolled area from the Russian side, and they delivered electricity worth UAH 300 million there every month. And nobody pays that bill at the moment," the minister said at a meeting in Kyiv on Tuesday.

A new algorithm of work with those territories, which was previously authorized by the Cabinet, suggests payment for power exchange only, which saves about UAH 800 million every month, he said.

This and other measures have helped to boost the rate of payment for electricity from 85% in the first quarter of 2015, to virtually 100% in the second quarter, Demchyshyn said.

"We expect this level will be kept until the end of the year, and we'll be able to buy both nuclear fuel and coal," he added.