Ukraine and Russia have agreed to continue European Union-mediated talks on continuing to supply Europe with Russian gas via Ukrainian pipelines after the current contract expires at the end of 2019, a top European Commission official said.
European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, responsible for energy policy in the European Union's executive arm, made the announcement after a three-way meeting in Berlin with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak.
"We need a constructive approach - the clock is ticking, and if we look at the calendar we see the end of 2019 is just round the corner," Sefcovic told a news conference.
He said he hoped separate expert and political working groups would meet "every six to eight weeks" from September in order to lay the ground for a new gas transit contract.