Kiev  - Russian natural gas was still flowing to Ukraine after a Kremlin deadline to cut it off passed Thursday, according to media and eyewitness reports.

Russian and Ukrainian media confirmed engineers monitoring pipelines on the border between the two countries as of 0700 GMT had not thrown switches to cut off supplies.

Executives of the Russian energy giant Gazprom had named the time as the moment at which the corporation would Ukraine's gas off.

Russian officials on Wednesday said failed talks between Moscow and Ukraine on a new gas delivery contract made a cut-off inevitable. The last contract became ineffective at the end of 2008, and Russia and Ukraine are far apart on terms.

Local officials and eyewitnesses in major Ukrainian cities confirmed that, as of Thursday morning, businesses and homes were still receiving natural gas at normal levels. (dpa)