Russia's state-controlled gas monopoly said today it would restore supplies to Europe through Ukraine, cut off after a dispute between Moscow and Kiev, as soon as international monitors are in place.
Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller, speaking after talks with European Union officials in Brussels, also said he would hold further face-to-face talks with Ukraine's Naftogaz on a flight back to Moscow to try to restore supplies to Europe.
"This must be resolved today," Miller told reporters.
The gas cut-offs have left hundreds of thousands of people in the Balkans without gas, forced factories to shut down and disrupted deliveries as far west as France and Germany.
"We need to resume the gas flows in Europe. We can't be blackmailed," said Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, whose country holds the EU presidency.
An EU statement released today accused both Russia and Ukraine of "showing insufficient determination to solve the problem, which damages their credibility".
The European Union hopes that an EU mission to monitor the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine could help protect its supplies from the disagreements between Moscow and Kiev over gas prices, transit fees, and Ukraine's debts to Moscow.
Ukraine said the monitors could be in place tomorrow, although a European Commission energy director said they would take two days to be ready.
France and Germany said Russia had to honour its gas contracts with Europe regardless of the dispute, but they also warned Ukraine not to forget its own obligations.
"We expect the talks between Ukraine and Russia to yield quick results," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Paris after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The dispute between Kiev and its former Soviet master in Moscow follows tensions over Ukraine's efforts to join NATO, a move bitterly opposed by Moscow and viewed with wariness even by European members of the alliance and by investors.
Russia cut off gas for Ukraine's domestic consumption on New Year's Day. It fully suspended supplies of transit gas towards Ukraine yesterday, saying there was no longer any point delivering the gas because Kiev had shut down the pipelines.
Ukraine said Russia was deliberately starving Europe of gas.
South-east Europe has borne the brunt of the disruption, but it has affected supplies as far west as France and Germany as Europe faced freezing mid-winter temperatures.
"A key point here, is that industrial stoppages are only now beginning to occur (mainly in gas intensive industries), but would spread relatively rapidly if gas supplies remain limited," said Martin Blum, an economist at Unicredit in Vienna. Based on gas use and reliance on Russia as a source of gas, Blum said Hungary and Slovakia looked most at risk from the halt in supplies. Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia all had reserves reportedly below 10 days of average consumption, he added.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in a telephone call that Moscow would only resume pumping gas for Ukraine's own use if Kiev agreed to pay a market price for the fuel.
Gazprom has said it has increased supplies to the European Union and Turkey via other routes. Despite those measures, the dispute cut Russia's supplies to Europe -- which depends on Moscow for a quarter of its gas supplies -- by half.
The reduction in supplies has been sharper and more prolonged than a similar disruption in January 2006.
The euro zone's major economies have escaped significant economic repercussions, but France has reported a drop in supplies and an Italian industry ministry spokesman said Italy has begun tapping its stockpiles of natural gas.
In Ukraine itself, the state-run energy company asked domestic chemical producers to halve gas consumption and the country's largest chemical producer said it had completely stopped production due to reduced gas supplies.
A total of 18 countries were experiencing supply disruptions. Most were drawing on alternative sources or using stockpiled gas, but with the row in its eighth day, those reserves were dwindling.