Updated 10:51 p.m. Moscow Time
MILAN, October 17 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine and Russia have not yet reached an agreement on the gas issues, with the dispute expected to be settled at a trilateral meeting on October 21, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Friday.
"We have not reached any particular results on the gas issues, but on October 21 during Russia-Ukraine-EU talks we hope to reach an agreement on the gas dispute," Poroshenko told journalists after the meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Milan.
The Ukrainian president added that certain progress in the gas talks has been made but a more detailed discussion is needed.
At the moment, Ukraine is about to face winter with low reserves of natural gas. In June, Russian energy giant Gazprom switched Ukraine to the prepayment system for gas deliveries in light of Ukraine's gas debt of more than $5 billion.
In September, during ministerial talks in Berlin, Russia and the European Commission proposed the so-called winter package, according to which Ukraine should pay $3.1 billion of its debt by the end of 2014 in exchange for gas supplies in winter. Russia also insisted that Ukraine pay the first tranche of $2 billion before the start of the deliveries.
On October 13, Russia said it was ready to offer Ukraine a more flexible schedule for the repayment of the debt. The schedule saw Kiev paying $1.45 billion in the first installment of $3.1 billion, with the rest of the debt being paid by the year-end.
The same day, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said Ukraine was not willing to make any advanced payments for Russian gas supplies, insisting that payments should be made upon delivery.
