TULA, August 22. /TASS/. Ukraine is late with gas injection into underground storages by 2.1 bln cubic meters and will hardly close the gap by the beginning of winter season, Chief Executive Officer of Gazprom Alexei Miller said on Monday.

The delay creates risks for the Russian gas transit, he added.

"The delay against the last-year schedule is 2.1 bln cubic meters as of the relevant date. If it continues so, Ukraine will inject about 15 bln cubic meters of gas by the beginning of period. Figures are very simple here. They had 17.1 bln cubic meters of gas by the beginning of the withdrawal period last year. We deduce 2.1 and have 15. The daily injection schedule is such that no grounds exist for the time being to say that Ukraine will reach daily injection conditions needed to have 17 bln [cubic meters] volume," Miller said.

Gazprom’s underground gas storages in Europe contribute to reliability of supplies, Miller said. "However, one should understand problems of transit risks are not covered by underground storages in Europe. We cannot resolve problems of transit risks on account of underground storage in the territory of Europe. The target figure is 5% of the transit volume. Underground storages do not close transit risks," he added.