KIEV, December 22. /TASS/. Kazakhstan will supply coal to Ukraine, the country’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Kiev on Monday.

“We have agreed on coal supplies from the Ekibastuz coal deposit,” Nazarbayev said, expressing hope that “the sides could reach progress in this direction of cooperation.”

As a result of the military operation in Donbas, where some 80% of Ukraine’s coal mines are located, the country has lost some 12 million tons of coal, the country’s first deputy energy and coal industry minister, Yury Zyukov, said.

Kiev has recently been looking for alternative coal suppliers, including Australia, South Africa and Vietnam.