Frontlines calm ahead of gas talks

Ukraine's frontlines were relatively calm yesterday ahead of high-level EU-mediated gas talks between Kiev and Moscow.

Kiev's security officials said there was no fire after midnight on Ukraine's positions and no Ukrainian soldiers have been killed over the past 24 hours.

The relative quiet in eastern Ukraine has set in following a shaky European-brokered peace plan to end fighting that has killed at least 5,800 people since April.

With the relative hiatus in fighting on the ground, a gas dispute flared up in recent days after Russia's Gazprom began direct deliveries to the separatist-held areas in eastern Ukraine and demanded that Kiev pay for them.

Ukraine's national gas company Naftogas stopped pumping gas to the separatist areas last month, saying it could not deliver due to a damaged pipeline, but then adding that deliveries resumed a few hours later.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine of perpetrating something that smacked of "genocide" by denying energy to four million people living in territories hit by a humanitarian crisis.

The Kremlin appeared to soften its rhetoric however after the European Union unveiled plans Wednesday for a continent-wide single energy market, with the goal of diversifying the bloc's energy sources and decreasing its reliance on Russian gas.

The talks set for Monday between energy ministers of Ukraine and Russia together with European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic will attempt to replace the "winter package" interim deal mediated by the EU, which guaranteed Russian gas supplies through March.

Moscow argues that supplies to the east bypassing Kiev fall under the current agreement and must be bankrolled by Ukraine, but the government says it has no control over the volume or usage of such supplies, accusing Gazprom of violating the deal.