KIEV - Ukraine's state-run energy firm Naftogaz and Russia's gas giant Gazprom have signed an amendment to the gas supply contract, pegging the price of gas at 268.5 US dollars per 1,000 cubic meters, a senior Ukraine official said Thursday.

"The price of gas from Russia at the moment is the best for Ukraine,"  Energy and Coal Industry Minister Eduard Stavytsky told a press briefing.

Stavytsky said Kiev has temporarily halted gas purchases from Europe due to its higher price of around 400 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.

To ease the burden of gas costs on the budget, Ukraine will start the construction of coal gasification plants in September, Stavytsky said, explaining that the project would allow Ukraine to produce gas from coal at the price of 225 to 230 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.

In December 2012, China Development Bank Corporation opened a 3.7-billion-dollar credit line for Naftogaz to finance the program of converting coal into synthetic natural gas.

Under a 2009 deal between Naftogaz and Gazprom, Kiev was obliged to buy gas from its neighbor at 500 to 520 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.

In April 2010, Russia agreed to cut the price by 100 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters in exchange for a 25-year extension of the lease of its Black Sea fleet on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

Ukraine reportedly agreed in 2010 to extend the period of time in which Russia's Black Sea fleet could stay in Sevastopol on Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in return for lower gas prices.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, Russian gas was sold to Ukraine at a price of 410 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters.