KIEV, Dec. 8 - Ukraine may import up to 1.5 gigawatts of Russian electricity, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said.

"We are in the final stages of [negotiations] on imports. It would be approximately 1,500 megawatts," he said in an interview with channel 1+1 on Sunday night.

As reported previously, the Ukrainian unified energy grid has developed a deficit as a result of the hostilities in Donbas, a decline in coal mining and problems in coal deliveries to thermal power plants.