Ukraine imports no Russian gas for 1,100 days, says Prime Minister

Ukraine has not been buying  gas from Russia for 1,100 days which was the key energy resource for our country before 2014, and therefore the reason for the full energy dependence on Russia. This was stated by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman during the Government meeting.

The meeting began with a minute of silence in memory of the Ukrainian soldiers, who have been defending Donetsk airport for 242 days.  The Head of Government stressed that the feat of our fighters for independence cannot be forgotten and he claimed that it is of unparalleled importance to do everything to defend independence.

Volodymyr Groysman noted that independence should not be only considered in the political context, therefore independence encapsulates economic and energy capacity to develop.

The Prime Minister recalled that Russian gas was a weapon against Ukraine and its independence. He reminded that the decision on refusal to buy Russian gas was uneasy. But thanks to the former Head of the Government Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and later President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko it became possible to implement this decision.

"This step allowed to strengthen independence and to eradicate pressure on our state," the Prime Minister noted. "Now we have a clear task: to become a gas country that satisfies its own needs. To do this, we need to boost extraction - and here we have made significant breakthrough through deregulation and introduction of transparent auctions. We need to implement energy efficiency programs - and this year we  kick off the work of the Energy Efficiency Fund. It is necessary to update the industry, and, therefore, to modernize the economy. It is essential to maintain our status as a gas transiter country and be integrated into the European gas market."