KIEV, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Russia remained the largest exporter of nuclear fuel to Ukraine in 2018, local media reported Thursday, citing data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.

Last year, Ukraine imported about 523.2 million U.S. dollars worth of nuclear fuel from abroad, with Russia covering 71.6 percent of the purchases, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

According to the report, Ukraine imported the rest of the nuclear fuel from the European branch of a U.S.-based nuclear power company.

In 2017, Russia accounted for 69.17 percent of Ukraine's total nuclear fuel imports, while Westinghouse accounted for 30.83 percent, said the report.

Earlier, the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Ministry had voiced plans to reduce the share of imports from Russia to 45 percent in 2018.

Ukraine, which relied on Russia for more than 90 percent of its nuclear fuel imports in 2013, has reduced the purchases due to the tensions between Kiev and Moscow that started in 2014.

As nuclear energy accounts for over half of power generation in the country, Ukraine heavily depends on nuclear fuel for its 15 reactors in four nuclear power plants. Enditem

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