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Ukraine began importing Russian gas for the first time in almost six months, reducing the temptation to siphon off fuel piped across the country to the rest of Europe during freezing winter months.

Ukraine will receive as much as 43.5 million cubic meters of natural gas a day for the coming month from OAO Gazprom, the Russian state exporter, Maxim Bilyavskiy, a spokesman for pipeline operator UkrTransGaz, said by phone. Thats equal to about a fifth of the current demand in Ukraine, which has relied on supplies from Europe through so-called reverse flows.

Russia halted gas to Ukraine on June 16 over a price and debt dispute as relations soured over its annexation of Crimea and involvement in unrest in its neighbors easternmost regions. The European Union, relying on gas piped through Ukraine for 15 percent of its needs, brokered an interim deal in October to help avoid shortages seen in 2006 and 2009 during the winter.

The interim deal covers Gazprom deliveries through March, with a set price discount and debt-restructuring conditions. Ukraine also agreed to pay for Russian gas up front, handing over $378 million for 1 billion cubic meters last week.

Russia warned Europe in a meeting of energy chiefs on Aug. 29 that the region risked having gas supplies siphoned off in the winter if the payment dispute between the former Soviet allies wasnt resolved, an accusation that Ukraine rejected.

Risks to gas flows through Ukraine are very high, Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexey Miller said today on state television after deliveries resumed.

Supplies may be halted again Jan. 1 if Ukraine doesnt pay $1.65 billion of debt by the end of the month under the EU-brokered deal, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in October.

Ukraine hopes all parties will do everything possible to uphold the agreement, Andriy Kobolyev, CEO of state energy company NAK Naftogaz Ukrainy, said at a summit in London today. Ukraine has been fulfilling all its obligations under the deal. And we must also admit that Gazprom has done the same so far.

Ukraine will probably offtake as much as 5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas until the end of the winter season, Kobolyev said. Thats as much as $1.5 billion revenue for Gazprom aside of fuel already paid for given the price, expected by Ukraine in the first quarter.

Gazprom rose 0.9 percent to 136.28 rubles by 5:22 p.m. in Moscow after three days of decline.

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Ukraine Resumes Russia Gas Imports, Curbing EU Supply Risk

YASYNUVATA, UkraineThe bang of nearby artillery fire echoed off the facade as Vladimir Trubchanin inspected his charred, Stalin-era office building.

The war went right through the building. Those were the windows of my office, the 45-year-old factory director said, pointing to some blackened holes.

It has been a bad year for his Yasynuvata Machine-Building Plant, which produces giant digging equipment used in coal mines. In September, the factory found itself on the front line in Ukraines conflict with Russia-backed separatists.

The front has moved down the road, but the factory is still reeling. Production has all but halted. Three quarters of the staff of about 800 are gone. The plant has ended up in a rebel pseudo-state. Nearly all the documents went up in flames in the main office, as artillery shells blasted out the factory floors windows and parts of the walls and roofs.

The sweeping collapse of industry in Ukraines eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions has reverberated across the country, posing serious problems for the government and the rebels alike.

Should businesses like Mr. Trubchanins fail, the separatist-held regionwith a pre-conflict population of about 4.5 millionwill face an even dimmer future.

Alexander Khodakovsky, leader of the separatist Vostok battalion, warned that export-focused factories in the Donetsk region could end up as scrap metal if they were to lose their ties to the Ukrainian market.

Remember the old saying, Demand creates supply, Mr. Khodakovsky told a group at the local university on Nov. 24. If we provoke the destruction of market channels at this time with some sort of careless actions, well lose everything.

The rest of Ukraine stands to lose, too. Before the conflict, the two regions accounted for about 16% of Ukraines gross domestic product and roughly a quarter of industrial output, as well as almost all the countrys coal production. Much of that is now cut off.

Industrial production in Ukraine for the month of October shrank by 16.3% from a year earlier. The decline, combined with dwindling foreign-exchange reserves, has sent Ukraines currency plunging farther than any other in the world this year.

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Collapse of Industrial Heartland Reverberates Across Ukraine

President Obama Delivers Remarks at an Hour of Code Event
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