KIEV, May 27 - Ukraine paid $30 million to Russian natural gas giant Gazprom to secure imports of Russian gas in May, Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national energy company, reported Wednesday.

The payment of $30 million is enough to import about 121.4 million cu m of gas from Russia.

Naftogaz paid a total of $272 million to Gazprom for Russian gas supplies since early April, including $162 million in May alone, industry analysts said. These include payments of $40 million on May 5, $30 million on May 13, $32 million on May 14, $30 million on May 21 and $30 million on May 26.