KIEV, Feb. 19 – Natural gas supplies to rebel-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine have resumed, says Andriy Kobolev, the head of Ukraine's state oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrayiny.

"Today the situation was most difficult, because in the past approximately five to eight hours our maintenance teams could not access the gas pipelines which could resume supplies to the ATO (anti-terror operation) zone in full. Now this opportunity has emerged, and the supplies have resumed," he told a press conference in Kiev on Thursday.