KIEV, Jan. 19 - Ukraine’s biggest producer of steel pipes, Interpipe, is testing its recently completed Dniprostal, the country’s first state-of-the-art steel mill that uses electric power, not natural gas, for making steel.

The development is a milestone in Ukraine’s efforts to switch to electric power after facing persisted difficulties in talks with Russia over natural gas supply volumes and prices.

“We are witnessing the event of the national scale,” Oleksandr Kyrychko, the CEO of Interpipe, said in a statement Thursday. “In fact, we are seeing the birth of the new generation metallurgy in Ukraine.”