More than a third of Europe’s gas comes from Russia, and most of that goes through Ukraine’s Soviet-era pipelines. Ukraine has proposed that the European Union store as much as 4 billion cubic meters of gas in its underground storage facilities to guarantee security of supply for eastern European countries heavily reliant on Russian gas, pipeline operator Ukrtransgaz said this week.

Gazprom's 10-year transit deal with Ukraine's Naftogaz expires on December 31 this year, with some in the European gas market becoming increasingly concerned that there could be disruption to Russian gas flows via Ukraine as a result.

Holtec International, Ukraine's Energoatom and the country's State Scientific and Technology Centre (SSTC) have formally entered into a partnership to advance the US company's SMR-160 small modular reactor for deployment in Ukraine.

The United States has strongly criticised Nord Stream 2, a 11 billion euro ($12.4 billion) project to build a gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, which opponents fear will undermine Ukraine’s gas transit revenues and increase the EU’s reliance on Russian gas.

The IMF staff team has had very productive discussions with the Ukrainian authorities, including with President Zelenskyi, on the review of Ukraine’s Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF.

"They still do not have permission from Russia to cross the border [after June 1] so the Kazakh company has decided to wait," a source at a major Ukrainian trading company said Tuesday. "No one knows exactly what's going to happen in June."

Andriy Kobolev, head of state energy company Naftogaz Ukrayiny, said Ukraine will accumulate 20 Bcm of gas ahead of next winter, up from the 17 Bcm it usually has in underground storage facilities for the start of the heating season.

Putin said Ukraine was overpaying for gas which it could get much cheaper if it signed a transit deal with Russia.

Gazprom is looking to bypass Ukraine completely with the construction of the 55 Bcm/year Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the 31.5 Bcm/year TurkStream link, though some delays mean some kind of deal with Kiev will be necessary.

In absolute terms, the cumulative national debt of Ukraine in 2018 increased by 1.3%, to UAH 2.169 trillion, and in U.S. dollar terms by 2.5%, to $78.32 billion.