Kiev - Ukraine will send Bulgaria and Moldova gas from its own reserves, according to a statement Saturday from the office of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

The two Balkan nations will receive two million cubic metres of gas per day beginning Saturday, according to the statement.

The decision once effective will re-open supplies to Bulgaria and Moldova after a partial Russian cut-off beginning in early January, becoming a total shut-off on Thursday.

Kiev - A team of European Union observers arrived in Ukraine on Friday to monitor gas shipments from Russia though the former Soviet republic to EU nations, Korrespondent magazine reported.

The team of technicians landing at Kiev's Boryspil airport was set to act as independent monitors at the six main natural-gas pipeline crossing points from Russia to Ukraine, and at the headquarters of Ukrainian natural-gas monopolist Naftogaz Ukraine.

Berlin - Stakeholders in the transport of Siberian gas to western Europe should form a consortium to manage the pipelines, a leader of German business said in Berlin on Friday.

Klaus Mangold, who chairs the Business Council on the East, said the consortium should unite the Russian and Ukrainian gas companies and the German utilities which are their biggest customers. He said other nations could be involved if they wished.

The proposal to form a consortium was first made in 2002 but failed to win political favour.

Kiev - Spot fuel shortages were on the increase in Ukraine on Friday, as Kiev and Moscow moved towards an agreement on natural gas shipments to the former Soviet republic.

Diesel fuel reserves for public heating plants were, according to local politicians, down to two days' supply in the capital Kiev, as officials scrambled to keep homes and businesses warm during Russia's natural gas embargo.

Hot water to millions of homes had been cut off to residents of the provincial cities Zhitomyr, Zaporizhia and Chernovtsi owing to low pressure in gas lines needed to fire water-heating plants.

Brussels - Russia and Ukraine have agreed on the details of a monitoring mission designed to ensure that Russian gas destined for the European Union is not siphoned off as it travels through Ukrainian pipelines, officials in Brussels said Friday.

"There is now agreement on the details of the monitoring mission," the European Commission said in a statement.

"It is now imperative that the gas starts to flow to the European Union without any further delay," the EU's executive arm said.

The breakthrough came after overnight discussions brokered by the EU saw Russian and Ukrainian authorities accept to host both EU monitors and experts from their neighbouring country, officials in Brussels said.

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."