Kiev  - City managers in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on Tuesday began energy conservation measures because of falling supplies of natural gas, officials at the power company Kievenergo said.

Kiev residents, for their part, were resorting to tried and true methods of beating the cold, as yet another gas war with Russia and a vicious cold snap enveloped their city.

"A fur hat is the way to survive the winter," said Vadym Panchenko, a pensioner and taking in the fresh air at Kiev's central Maidan Square. "No one can turn off a fur hat."

Kiev - Russia's most recent cut in natural gas pumped into Ukrainian pipelines could affect European supplies "in hours," an official for the Ukrainian natural gas monopolist Naftogaz Ukrainy said Tuesday.

The Russian natural gas monopolist Gazprom early Tuesday morning reduced gas supplies to Ukraine to 92 million cubic metres per day, a volume roughly one third of average deliveries during winter months, said Valentyn Zemliansky, a Naftogaz spokesman.

Kiev - Ukraine has blocked transit shipment of Russian natural gas to Europe, escalating an acrimonious energy dispute dispute between the two countries and increasing the threat of a natural gas shortage in Europe, Ukrainian media reported Monday.

Executives from Ukrainian natural gas monopolist Naftogaz Ukrainy refused late Sunday evening to receive 15 million cubic metres of Russian natural gas per day in the Ukrainian gas pipeline network, citing absence of a contract to do so, Korrespondent magazine reported.

Kiev - The Ukrainian government has dismissed speculation that the country may not be in a position to co-host Euro 2012 alongside Poland.

"We will be ready in 2012, I have no doubt about it," Yuri Pavlenko, Ukraine's minister for sport, youth and family, was quoted Friday by the Interfax news agency as saying in Kiev.

Pavlenko said that Kiev's Olympic stadium would be finished on time and be ready to host the final despite construction hold-ups of more than a year.

Last month UEFA expressed doubts about Ukraine's ability to host the event due to organizational problems and internal political conflicts.

Kiev/Moscow - A last-ditch effort by Ukraine to pay part of a massive debt to Russia may be insufficient to prevent a natural gas supply crisis affecting Europe, according to a Thursday announcement by the Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Ukraine's government late Monday evening transferred 800 million dollars to the Russian natural gas monopolist on Tuesday, but the payment does not cover all of Kiev's outstanding debt, the Interfax news agency reported, citing a Gazprom company statement.

Kiev - Ukraine's parliament formed a new ruling coalition on Tuesday, allowing the legislature to take up long-stalled legislation for stimulating the economy.

Leaders of three centrist parties, the senior Block of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYut), Our Ukraine National Defence (OUND) and the junior Block of Litvin (BL) signed the coalition agreement, giving parliament its first ruling majority since September.