KIEV, Oct. 28 - Ukraine will ship 65 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas via its pipelines to Europe in 2015, up 9.4% on the year, Ihor Prokopiv, the head of UkrTransGaz, the state shipper, said Wednesday.

This is a sharp turnaround of earlier estimates by UkrTransGaz, which had predicted in June that Russian gas shipments to Europe would fall to 51 Bcm in 2015 from 59.4 Bcm in 2014.

“The past several months are suggesting a better forecast,” Prokopiv said in a statement released by UkrTransGaz. “We expect 65 Bcm to be shipped by the end of the year.”