KIEV, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Ukraine, which agreed to an EU-backed deal to resume Russian gas flows through its pipelines to Europe, must still face off with Moscow to secure gas for its own population as temperatures stay below freezing.

The three-way transit deal, signed by Ukraine in the early hours of Sunday, does nothing to solve Kiev’s struggle to resolve a pricing dispute with Russia that resulted in its gas supplies being cut on New Year’s Day, analysts said on Sunday.

“We remain one-on-one with Russia,” Mykhailo Pohrebynsky, director of the Kiev Centre for Political Research, said.

Ukraine, Russia and the European Union signed a pact that should enable the resumption of Russian gas supplies to Europe, large parts of which have been plunged into a mid-winter energy crisis. [ID:nLB599732]

Analysts said this deal should not mask problems faced by Ukraine in getting its own supplies turned back on. Oleh Dubyna, chief executive of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz, said the latest round of price talks in Moscow had come to nothing.

"The talks now have to proceed at a higher level," Dubyna said after returning empty-handed from Saturday talks with Gazprom GAZP.MM, Russia's state-run gas export monopoly.

Ukraine should not rely on support from the European Union, which has been exasperated by the long-running gas dispute and whose primary concern is to monitor compressor stations and ensure the flow of Russian supplies, analysts said.

“It would be a strategic mistake to rely only on Europe’s support to squeeze out an agreement with Russia,” Volodymyr Fesenko, director of the Penta think tank, told Reuters.

“Europe can help in some way as a go-between, play some sort of role, but Ukraine must agree on its own.”

Kiev says it has gas reserves to cover more than two months of consumption, but some Ukrainian companies and utilities have already cut back consumption and are trying to switch to other fuels, such as coke and fuel oil. [ID:nL9320185]

FAR APART ON PRICE

Gazprom, at the latest negotiations, insisted on a price of $450 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas for 2009 supplies to Ukraine, Dubyna said. Naftogaz has said it will pay no more than $201, up from $179.50 in 2008.

Ukraine, which has been paying significantly below market price for Russian gas, is likely to struggle to pay a much higher price as its crisis-gripped economy heads for a forecasted contraction of between 3 and 5 percent this year.

“Russians have run out of patience and Ukraine will now face a very tough position,” said Alexander Razuvayev, Moscow-based analyst with Sobinbank.

In addition to the price, Gazprom is pursuing compensation for lost gas and full redemption of last year’s debt. Razuvayev said he expects Gazprom to ask for $370-$380 per tcm based on the cost of Central Asian gas plus transportation costs.

Moscow, however, might not want to alienate the significant pro-Russian population of eastern and southern Ukraine, most of whom speak Russian as their preferred language. The gas cut-off has already hit metals and chemical producers in the region.

“Not signing a deal would endanger the positive view of a significant portion of Ukrainians toward Russia,” Pohebrynsky of the Kiev Centre for Political Research said.

“If people spend a week without heating in their homes, it will be difficult for Russia to explain why,” he said.

“It’s not possible to discredit the Ukrainian authorities in the eyes of Ukrainians. They’re already completely discredited.”