“The valves are closed. It’s unknown what the next developments will be, we’re waiting for orders on when and from where to receive future gas. So far, there isn’t any [Russian] deliveries to our region,” Vadim Tupoi said.
Ukraine’s state-run oil and gas company Naftogaz resumed gas deliveries to southeastern Ukraine Thursday, the company’s chief said hours after the company claimed that deliveries were impossible because of damaged pipelines.
Donetsk and Luhansk turned to Russia for help, saying they had enough gas only to last until Thursday night amid subzero temperatures. Russia's Gazprom said it started pumping gas to Donbas at 6:00 p.m. Moscow time [15:00 GMT] Thursday.
A representative from the Donetsk gas company, Donetskgorgaz, said gas was being delivered in full volume without specifying if it was coming from Ukraine or Russia.
In late January, the Donetsk People's Republic, another Ukrainian breakaway region, claimed that suspensions in Kiev's supplies to one of its districts had left some 30,000 people without heat. The Ukrainian energy ministry kept silent on the issue, saying it did not have any information.
Russia has been providing humanitarian assistance to the war-torn Donbas region since August 2014. Since then the two Ukrainian breakaway republics have received over 18,000 tons of food, grain, water, clothes, medicines, power generators and building materials.
