PM Groysman conducts a Q&A session in parliament / Photo from UNIAN
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says that Ukrainian state-owned companies do not buy coal in Russia.
"According to Ukraine' Fuel and Energy Ministry, none of state-owned companies buys coal from the aggressor country," he said at a Q&A session in parliament on Friday, June 23.
He assured that the government had been taking all necessary measures to diversify shipments of anthracite coal a shortage of which Ukraine has been facing after Russian occupiers seized coal mines in Donbas, the east of the country.
Read alsoAlmost 12 mln tonnes of coal from occupied Donbas brought to Ukraine by rail in 2016"We're replacing coal with other types of fuel – it concerns mainly anthracite coal in Ukrainian mines seized by Russian invaders – not without the help of some Ukrainian pseudo-patriots," he said, referring to the blockade of trade in coal with occupied areas in Donbas.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Groysman recommended that Ukraine should buy coal from different countries except for Russia. Ukraine suffers shortages in anthracite coal after the Donbas trade blockade.
The Ukrainian prime minister claims that Russia sells commodities produced by seized Ukrainian enterprises to third countries and uses revenue to finance its army and fighters in Donbas.
Coal production in Ukraine in January-May 2017 shrank by 4.1% year-over-year, to 15.791 million tonnes.