Ukraine is technically capable of supplying gas to Europe, the country's state gas firm Naftogaz told OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) Thursday in a letter seen by Dow Jones Newswires.
Gazprom last week stopped shipping gas to Europe through Ukraine and accused the country of stealing from this supply.
Although Gazprom agreed to start supplying gas again Tuesday, Ukraine, which denies Gazprom's charge, refused to let the gas into its pipeline system, saying it was technically impossible.
"Today we received a letter from Naftogaz stating that it is technically possible to open Sudzha and start transit of gas to European consumers," Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kuprianov told journalists.
He said Russian gas still wasn't flowing into the Ukrainian pipeline system, and accused Ukraine of lacking the political will to transport the gas.
In the first round of the supply cuts, which occurred on New Year's Day, Gazprom shut off gas for customers in Ukraine after the country failed to resolve a dispute on late payments and a price for 2009.
"It is obvious that the Russian side is prepared to supply gas to Europe. We've seen this with our own eyes," Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer said on Russian television channel after visiting Gazprom's central monitoring hall in Moscow.