Ukraine has called on the EU to help reform its energy infrastructure to avoid the kind of crisis as occurred between it and Russia in January, government sources said Thursday. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Grigory Nemyria told the German Press Agency dpa that the "EU is Ukraine's most important partner in the question of reforming the energy sector." EU officials are set to meet with Ukrainian counterparts on Friday to hammer out a deal for a loan to help Ukraine pay for Russian gas and avert a payments crisis like the one that saw gas cut off to much of Europe in January 2009. Ukraine, which has been hard hit by the economic crisis, must in the coming months pay some 3 billion euros (4.2 billion dollars) to Moscow for gas supplies which would then be forwarded to Europe in time for the high-demamd winter season.
