DNIPROPETROVSK, Oct. 8 – Ukraine's major steel companies asked Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for a moratorium on the increase in energy prices and cargo transportation tariffs from Oct. 1 to the end of the year, and introduce a zero VAT on natural gas and electricity.

The address was approved at a meeting on the situation in the Ukrainian metals mining sector and measures to stabilize it in Dnipropetrovsk on Monday.

In August, a crisis occurred in the metals and mining sector in Dnipropetrovsk region and now it is worsening, according to the group.