KIEV, Dec. 29 – President Petro Poroshenko says he is against halting shipments of gas and electricity, which are supplied free of charge to the occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and that he is against an exchange of gas for coal from Donbas.

"I don't support the idea of exchanging gas for coal. There are state-run coal mines [in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas], and we'll buy coal from them. We will continue supplying gas, we've got money to pay for it, including the pensions accumulated due to non-payment [caused by hostilities in Donbas], which is now used as compensation for spending on gas and electricity. And I am sure that suspending gas supplies is not the way to make Donbas return," he said at a press conference in Kiev on Monday.