MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. Ukraine reduced gas injection into its underground storage facilities by 44% in April compared to April 2024, the Ukrainian consulting company ExPro Consulting reported.

According to the company’s calculations, since April 17, the moment when Ukraine began filling underground storage facilities, 258 million cubic meters of natural gas have been injected, while in April 2024, gas injection volumes amounted to 460 million cubic meters.

As the company notes, the reduction is due to the late start of the injection season in 2025. In 2024, it began half a month earlier - on March 31.

According to ExPro Consulting, today Ukraine’s underground storage facilities are 18.4% full, and the country will need to import a record 7.2 billion cubic meters of gas in May-October to prepare for the next heating season.

On April 20, Sergey Makogon, former CEO of Ukraine’s GTS Operator, said that Ukraine was running out of gas reserves in its underground storage facilities and would not be able to live through the next heating season without gas imports.

However, according to his estimates, the country will have to import a slightly smaller volume - about 5.5-6.3 billion cubic meters of gas. In turn, Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak noted that, given the current gas prices, Kiev will have to urgently look for and ask its partners for 2 billion euros.

The problem of gas deficit in Ukraine arose after the transit of Russian gas to Europe through the country's gas transportation system was completely stopped on January 1 due to Kiev's refusal to extend the agreement with Gazprom.