Ukraine refuses to resume Europe gas deliveries

Kiev: The head of Ukraine's gas company says it will not resume deliveries of Russian gas to Europe on Wednesday and blames conditions set by Russia's Gazprom.

Russia opened a tap to Ukraine on Tuesday, raising hopes supplies to Europe would be restored nearly a week after they were halted.

But Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz did not deliver the gas to Europe, saying Gazprom demanded it use a route that was technically arduous and would force it to halt supplies to a large swath of its own territory.

Naftogaz head Oleh Dubina said Gazprom made a similar request on Wednesday. He said Naftogaz will not agree to halt supplies to Ukrainian consumers.

The politically charged dispute has dramatically lowered supplies to Europe and angered the European Union.