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Starting at 10 a.m. today Ukraine has been pumping Russian gas into its underground storage locations, Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn has said. Ukraine has tried to limit its use of Russian gas, but is still incapable of eliminating it completely, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports.
According to Demchyshyn, Ukraine's Naftogaz has requested 114 million cubic meters of gas from Russia a day.
Within 20-30 days he expects Ukraine to increase its reserves from 15.8 billion cubic meters to 17 billion-18 billion.
"The funds reserved for Gazprom allow for transfer of 2.2 billion cubic meters," he said.
Ukraine's gas consumption increased in September from 40 million cubic meters to 65 million a day, said the minister.
"Without Russian gas it is impossible to go through the heating season," Demchyshyn said. He explained that it would be possible only if Ukraine were to have a very warm winter, if the consumption decreased due to energy saving measures or if industrial production declined.
"We hope that next year it will be much easier to go through winter and we will be able to go through it without Russian gas," he said.
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen has said that Ukraine shouldn't expect Washington's decision on whether to arm it in the near future.
"I was among those in the Congress who supported providing Ukraine with defense weapons. As you know, the Congress and [presidential] administration had their differences with regards to this issue. I don't think that in the near future there will be a solution that would be different from what we have now," she said in a comment to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has apparently reached out to voters in upcoming local elections in Ukraine through leaflets spotted in Dnipropetrovsk.
Yanukovych is campaigning for the Opposition bloc, many of whose members are former allies or former members of his now liquidated Party of Regions.
"We will win!" says the leaflet. "I am doing everything possible to return to my people soon, so that again we can be building a happy and rich Ukraine."
Yanukovych’s regime fell in February 2014 after the Euromaidan protests. He then fled to Russia, where he currently resides.
Energy-sector officials have cut off the Melitopol-Dzhankoy electricity line supply from mainland Ukraine to Russia-annexed Crimea.
Izet Hdanov, the deputy head of the Crimea blockade civil initiative, attributed the action to support for protesters who have been blockading entries to Crimea from mainland Ukraine for three weeks.
“We can’t supply occupants with commodities, electricity is also a commodity," Hdanov told RFE/RL's Crimea desk. "According to UN norms, the occupants have to provide for the territory they control. We, for our part, will work on its de-occupation.”
But the cut in supplies could also be of a more technical nature.
A few days ago unknown people damaged high-voltage electricity lines, Hdanov said. Later, about 100 activists participating in the blockade gathered at the scene, preventing repair work, prompting officials to cut off the lines.
Three more lines continue to supply Crimea with electricity.
Ihor Ladny, a Zaporizhzhya electrical networks official, said that he supports the blockade, but activists "must act in a civilized manner."
Ukrainian officials have yet to comment on the incident.