KIEV - UKRAINE has sent a note to the Russian embassy in Kiev calling on Moscow to 'immediately resume' talks to resolve the gas crisis, Ukraine's presidential administration officials told AFP on Wednesday.

'The note contains a proposal to immediately resume talks and suggests inviting representatives from the European Commission' in reaching a new gas accord, Ukraine's presidential representative on energy issues Bogdan Sokolovsky told AFP.

'The Ukrainian side proposes to maintain, until such new accord is signed, the existing volume of deliveries and transit' and to fix new conditions and prices at the time of signing, he added.

'We are ready to launch a new round of negotiations in the upcoming days or even hours,' Mr Sokolovsky said, adding that the note was sent on the initiative of Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko.

Russia's state gas monopoly Gazprom said it will cut off all gas supplies to Ukraine on Thursday morning after the two sides failed to reach an agreement on how much Ukraine will pay in 2009.

The cutoff announced late on Wednesday by Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller threatened a replay of the January 2006 crisis, when a halt in Russian gas shipments to Ukraine during a similar dispute resulted in a brief reduction of supplies to Europe.

But Mr Miller said Gazprom would continue full shipments to the European Union, which gets about a quarter of its gas from the Russian company, most of it through pipelines that cross Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president's energy adviser, Mr Bohdan Sokolovsky, also said Ukraine would guarantee the delivery of gas to Europe.

'Whatever Russia ships we will deliver,' he said. 'This is what we have committed to.'

Gazprom had warned it would cut supplies unless Ukraine paid off all of its debt and signed a deal for 2009 deliveries by midnight.

Neither was done, Mr Miller said.

'Gazprom will cut off 100 per cent of gas supplies to Ukrainian consumers at 10am (3pm Singapore time) on Jan 1,' Mr Miller told reporters. 'All responsibility for the situation rests on the Ukrainian side.'

His statement reflected the extremely strained relations between the two neighbours.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has angered Moscow through his efforts to win Nato membership and his support of Georgia in its August war with Russia.

The situation is further complicated by an open conflict between Mr Yushchenko and Ukraine's prime minister over gas policy and relations with Russia, among other issues.

Ukraine's gas company Naftogaz said it paid US$1.5 billion to cover the debt, but Miller said Gazprom had not yet received the money.

The amount also falls short of the $2.1 billion that Gazprom says Ukraine owes for gas supplies and fines for late payment.

The $1.5 billion (S$2.15 billion) was paid on Tuesday to Rosukrenergo, a Russian-Ukrainian gas trader based in Switzerland that is half owned by Gazprom. It was not immediately clear why the money had not been transferred to Gazprom.

'This is an issue of Gazprom's dealings with Rosukrenergo,' said Naftogaz spokesman Valentyn Zemlyansky. 'Naftogaz has fulfilled all its obligations.' He repeated Ukraine's insistence that this money covers the entire debt.

The other stumbling block was the failure to sign a contract for 2009 gas deliveries.

Gazprom had first insisted that Ukraine pay US$418 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas in 2009, more than double what it paid the previous year. But on Wednesday, Gazprom offered a contract with gas set at US$250, which Ukrainian officials said was still too high.

While Gazprom's European customers now pay the higher price, the cost of gas is expected to fall sharply in coming months as a result of the steep drop in the price of oil.

Naftogaz had said it would agree to US$250 if Gazprom agreed to pay a higher transit fee for the gas it ships across Ukraine, a condition Gazprom refused to accept. -- AP, AFP