Kiev has reportedly told its Western backers it must import large volumes of gas to avert a winter energy crisis Russian strikes have destroyed more than half of Ukraine’s gas production, forcing Kiev to seek over $2 billion in emergency imports to prevent a winter energy crisis, Bloomberg claimed on Thursday. Kiev told its Western backers this week that a Russian missile strike on the regions of Kharkov and Poltava on October 3 destroyed around 60% of the country’s gas production capacity, the