Kiev - Ukraine said Friday it has paid its gas bill to Russia for May, avoiding another conflict like the one that cropped up earlier this year.

The national Ukrainian gas utility Naftogas said it had received confirmation from the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom that the money had arrived, a Naftogas spokesman said Friday, according to the news agency Interfax in Kiev.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko announced that Naftogas had received 357 million euros (489 million dollars) from the government to pay the bill.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday warned anew that Russia would shut off gas deliveries to Europe unless Ukraine paid for the deliveries.

Renewed conflict between Kiev and Moscow at the beginning of the year led to a weeks-long blockade of the most important transit line across Ukraine to the European Union.(dpa)