KIEV, Nov. 24 - Russia unexpectedly suspended supplies of coal to major Ukrainian fossil fuel-burning power plants owned by TsentrEnergo and DTEK, the Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan said Monday.

Ukraine, whose coal industry is undermined by an armed conflict between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, planned to import coal from South Africa and Russia to meet demand during the winter.