Peskov claimed
that Putin had agreed to the deal as a goodwill gesture and said:
"Putin made a decision to start these supplies due to the critical
situation with energy supplies and despite a lack of prepayment." The
agreement will see Russia supply the Ukraine with half a million tonnes
of coal each month according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak. If
further agreement is reached it will provide another half million. At
present, Ukraine has only 1.5 million tonnes of coal in reserve whereas
normally winter stocks reach 4 to 5 million tonnes.
While normally
Ukraine is self-sufficient in providing its electricity, fighting in the
coal producing regions of the east has cut off coal supplies to the
thermal generating stations. These provide almost 40 percent of
Ukraine's electrical power. Kozak also said that he hoped the agreement
would resolve problems involving Ukrainian supply of energy to the
Crimea.
Ukraine blocked
all air and bus travel to the Crimea on Friday. The Crimean customs
service said that automobile traffic was also stopped at two of three
crossings but had resumed by the afternoon. A Ukrainian security
official said the measures were temporary. A spokesperson for Ukrainian
security Col. Andriy Lysenko claimed that the suspension resulted
because "there is a high likelihood of sabotage groups entering under
the guise of local people." There were three recent fatal explosions in
the south including one in Odessa and another in Kherson just 60 miles
north of Crimea. The disruption of transport is certain to anger
residents on both sides of the border as this is the busy holiday
season.
On a more positive note,
eastern rebels freed another four prisoners including three soldiers
after the initial swap of 146 for 222 people held by the Ukraine
government. The latest release was in Luhansk
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