Ukraine meets 80% of its gas requirements through the European Union, Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said on Friday while delivering a report to the government. "We buy 80% of gas in the EU, so dependence on Russian energy giant Gazprom has considerably lowered," Demchyshyn was quoted as saying by TASS. By the start of the heating season, Ukraine should pump at least 19 billion cubic meters of gas into its underground gas storage facilities, which will make it possible to guarantee its uninterrupted transit to Europe. As of August 23, according to the data of Gas Storage Europe, gas reserves in Ukraine's underground storage facilities totaled 14.07 billion cubic meters. Ukraine has 13.9 billion cubic meters of gas in its underground storage facilities and needs 3 billion cubic meters more to make it through the winter.
