Ukraine aims to renew natural gas purchases on the European spot market to replace expensive Russian supplies, Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yury Prodan said here Wednesday.

"We need to look for ways to diversify gas purchases. We consider Slovakia, Germany and other countries as potential suppliers," Prodan told a media briefing here.

Ukraine could annually import around 15 billion cubic meters of gas from Europe, Prodan said, without specifying when Kiev might start reverse gas imports.

Last year, Ukraine halted gas purchases from Europe after Russia agreed to cut the price of its gas supplies to Kiev by a third.

On March 1, Moscow said Ukraine might lose its gas discount due to its outstanding gas debt, which reached some 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Last year, Ukraine imported about 30 billion cubic meters of gas, of which about 28 billion came from Russia.