Russia pushes back Ukraine gas cut ultimatum

Crisis-hit Ukraine won a vital reprieve from Russia on Monday when Moscow pushed back until next week a possible cut in gas shipments that would also impact parts of Europe.
      
Russia's surprise decision came hours before the two sides were to lock horns in Brussels over a price dispute that emerged when Moscow cancelled the discounts it awarded pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych prior to his February fall.
      
Moscow had threatened to halt all shipments to Ukraine -- a vital gas transit nation now seeking a closer alliance with the West -- from Tuesday in a repetition of interruptions that also hurt swathes of Europe in 2006 and 2009.
      
Ukraine received another vital boost as it battles a bloody separatist insurgency along its Russian border with a visit to Kiev by US Assistant Secretary of Defence Derek Chollet.
      
But the seven-week campaign continued unabated when pro-Russian gunmen attacked a Ukrainian border guard service camp in the eastern rust belt district of Lugansk.
      
The service said seven border guards were wounded in a heavy battle that began in the dawn hours and was still raging on Monday afternoon.
                      
Russia's state-run gas giant Gazprom -- long accused of acting as the Kremlin's political enforcer against neighbours seeking closer ties to the West -- said it "welcomed" Ukraine's decision to transfer a $786-million payment to partially cover its debts.
      
"We welcome Ukraine starting to pay back its debt and postpone the pre-payment regime until June 9," Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller said in a statement."       

Ukraine had branded Gazprom's decision to nearly double its gas...