KIEV, Dec. 16 - Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the main shipper of Russian natural gas to the European Union, said Tuesday it had put in operation a new compressor plant making gas shipments more reliable.

The Bobrovitska compressor plant, near the city of Chernihiv, increases capacity of the gas pipeline that moves gas from Russian city of Tula via Shostka and Kiev of Ukraine, the company said.