Damaged Ukrainian gas pipeline under repair

KIEV, Ukraine, June 24 (UPI) -- A natural gas pipeline damaged in an explosion last week in Ukraine should resume operations in early July, Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz said Tuesday.

"In early July, the pipeline will begin its work," Naftogaz Deputy Director Alexander Todiichuk said.

No injuries were reported in the explosion last week along the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline in the Poltava region of Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities had said the explosion may have been the result of an act of terrorism.

Military tensions between Russia and Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, erupted in November when the government in Kiev moved closer to joining the European Union.

The tensions have spilled over into the European energy sector. European consumers get about a quarter of their gas needs met by Russia, though most of those supplies run through the Soviet-era gas transit network in Ukraine.

Russian energy company Gazprom said it wouldn't send any more natural gas to Ukraine unless it was paid in advance. Gazprom says Ukraine owes it more than $4 billion.

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund arrived Tuesday in Kiev to review the country's financial situation.