Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has demanded that the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn should immediately transfer shares of PJSC Centrenergo to the State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine for further privatization.

"Technical obstacles are created deliberately to not let the company Centrenergo be privatized. Therefore, Mr. Minister, the government of Ukraine demands that you immediately transfer a [state-owned] stake in Centrenergo to the SPF as was instructed in a cabinet resolution," Yatseniuk said.

In turn, Demchyshyn said that the country's thermal energy market needs to be de-monopolized before Centrenergo is privatized.

"Before selling this enterprise, the market of thermal generation needs to be de-monopolized," he said.