Ukraine's acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has stressed that the Eastern European country is not in a situation to refuse Russian natural gas.

"I could have made a populist statement, but it is not true. We cannot refrain from using Russian gas," Yatsenyuk told the First National TV Channel on Friday.

The interim Ukrainian premier also noted that the former Soviet state needs an additional 7 billion cubic meters of natural gas to live through the next winter.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian government source announced on Friday that Kiev and Moscow will restart talks over the weekend, aimed at resolving a long-running dispute between the two neighboring countries over gas prices.

Earlier in April, Russia's gas giant Gazprom increased the price of gas for Ukrainian consumers to USD 485 per 1,000 cubic meters from USD 268 for the first quarter of 2014.

Ukrainian officials say Moscow's act is politically motivated, but Russian authorities reject the claim.

Russia has set a June 10 deadline for Ukraine to start paying off its debt for gas imports. Kiev has already made a payment of USD 786 million to Moscow.

Gazprom says Ukraine's total gas debt stands at USD 5.2 billion, with last month's consumption included.