Russia agrees to remove Donbas areas from electricity flows agreement, Kyiv says
KYIV. July 7 (Interfax) - Ukraine managed to hold quite successful talks with Russia over discontinuation of electricity flows to the rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk, Ukraine's Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Volodymyr Demchyshyn said.
"We held quite successful talks with the Russians: we managed to remove four lines that went from Russia to the uncontrolled zone and delivered 300 million hryvni worth of electricity each month. No such money is being paid at the moment," he told senior officials at his ministry in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Overall, the new scheme for working with these areas, which was approved by the Cabinet earlier and envisions payment for the flows only, allows for the saving of around 800 million hryvni, he said.
Along with other measures, this helped increase the electricity payment rate from 85% in the first quarter to nearly 100% in the second, Demchyshyn said.
"We are expecting to be able to retain this level until the end of the year and buy both nuclear fuel and coal," the minister said.