BRUSSELS -- Russia and Ukraine clinched a multibillion dollar deal Thursday that will guarantee that Russian natural-gas exports flow into Ukraine and beyond to the European Union throughout the winter despite their intense rivalry over the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, whose office mediated the talks for months, said the EU also will help cash-strapped Ukraine with the payments through aid and guarantees.
"There is now no reason for people in Europe to stay cold this winter," he said. Barroso added that he was "hopeful that the agreement can contribute to increased trust between Russia and Ukraine."
European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said at a news conference in Brussels that the "breakthrough will not only make sure that Ukraine will have sufficient heating in the dead of the winter ... it is also a contribution to the de-escalation between Russia and Ukraine."
The deal also will guarantee supplies for the EU nations closest to the region that stood to suffer if the gas standoff had worsened, he said.
A similar standoff in 2009 had caused serious disruptions in gas flowing from Russia into the EU, and it was a prospect the bloc sought to avoid.
The agreement long hinged on the question whether Ukraine was in a position to come up with the cash to pay for the gas.
"Yes, they are," a confident Oettinger said. He said the $4.6 billion deal should extend through March.
"We can claim and pay for amounts that we need. That question has been totally settled," said Yuriy Prodan, Ukrainian minister for energy. "There will be no problems."
Under the deal, Ukraine would pay for its outstanding debt by making a $1.45 billion deposit without delay, and $1.65 billion by year's end. The final sum of debt would be determined through arbitration.
For new gas, Russia only will deliver after prepayment. Ukraine intends to buy some $1.5 billion by the end of December.
The EU said in a statement that it had been "working intensively" with international institutions and Ukraine to secure funds to pay for gas delivery in the coming winter.
"Unprecedented levels of EU aid will be disbursed in a timely manner," it said.
The deal only stretches through March, and the difficulties of the talks were immediately evident when the Russians and Ukrainians started disagreeing on terms and prices of gas for next summer.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, agreed earlier this month on the broad outline of a deal, but financial issues, centering on payment guarantees for Moscow, had long bogged down talks.
But with each week, the need for a resolution becomes more pressing, since winter is fast approaching in Ukraine, where temperatures often sink below freezing for days.
Russia cut off gas supplies to Ukraine in June after disputes over Russia's annexation of Crimea in March. Ukraine since then has been relying on gas transfers from other European countries and its own reserves.
Information for this article was contributed by Peter Leonard of The Associated Press and by Daryna Krasnolutska, Elena Mazneva and Ewa Krukowska of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 10/31/2014