KIEV, August 19. /TASS/. Bilateral talks for gas supplies to Ukraine in Ukraine-European Commission (EC) format planned for August 27-28, will be held with participation of representatives of the US Government, Ukraine’s Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Vladimir Demchishin said on Wednesday.

"The meeting will be held on [August] 27-28 in Vienna. The US partners are expected to attend it," he said, adding that representatives of the US Government will participate in the talks. "This will be a bilateral format while the US delegation will be attending non-officially," he said.

The minister also said the issue of providing additional finances for gas purchases to Ukraine may be raised at the meeting, though he added that so far "no one is eager to provide Ukraine with funds."

Earlier Demchishin said another round of bilateral talks for supplies of Russian natural gas to Ukraine will take place in Vienna on August 27-28. "The bilateral [meeting] will be on 27-28, we and the Europeans will be there for sure. We hope Russia will join, too," he said.

A representative of the European Commission /EC/ press service told TASS on August 11 the EC does not rule out holding bilateral talks on gas issues with Russia and Ukraine in August in Vienna. "We’re considering the possibility of holding bilateral meetings with Russia and Ukraine," the representative said when answering the question whether gas talks may take place in August in Vienna.