Will Kiev leave Europe without gas?

Kiev warned the European Commission about possible unforeseen situations in Ukraine's gas transport system, the spokesperson of the European Commission Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.

"The Ukrainian authorities informed us about a possible emergency situation in  Ukraine's gas transport system. We have taken note of it. We take into account these concerns. We are ready to work with the Ukrainian and Russian authorities," RIA Novosti cited her as saying.

Earlier today, Minister of Energy and Coal Mining of Ukraine Igor Nasalyk said that Ukraine has switched power plants to fuel oil from gas in an effort to make up for an emergency shortage. The Energy Ministry also asked local authorities to suspend lessons at schools, universities and kindergartens until March 6.

On Thursday, Gazprom said it had returned a prepayment to Ukraine and would not restart gas supplies as an additional agreement to the existing arrangements had not yet been reached. Ukraine said it would seek compensation.