KIEV, Ukraine, April 1 (UPI) -- Ukraine's natural gas shipper said that April marks the start of a break from Russia as more supplies start coming in from nearby Poland.
State natural gas shipper UkrTransGaz said that, as of Monday, it increased imports by pipeline from Poland by 150 percent to more than 170 million cubic feet per day.
Ukraine is trying to break Russia's dominance on its energy sector by using suppliers in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.
"According to the diversification strategy, UkrTransGaz is working on arranging supplies from the four European countries that are connected with our gas transportation system," the company was quoted by the Platts news service as saying.
Most of the Russian natural gas bound for Europe runs through Ukraine's natural gas transit system. It's designed to deliver about 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to Europe each year.
By Platts' estimate, Russian natural gas imports into Ukraine will decline more than 630 billion cubic feet per year. Ukraine and Poland are among the Eastern European countries said to be rich in shale natural gas resources as well.
