With a $17.5 billion agreement from the International Monetary Fund in hand, Russian gas company Gazprom said Thursday it was time Ukraine settled its debt.

"The economic reform program focuses on immediate macroeconomic stabilization as well as broad and deep structural reforms to provide the basis for strong and sustainable economic growth over the medium term," IMF Mission Chief for Ukraine Nikolay Gueorguiev said in a statement.

Political upheaval that followed Kiev's pivot toward the European Union in November 2013 left an already-battered Ukrainian economy in shambles.

The IMF said Ukraine's economy contracted by about 7 percent in gross domestic product last year as conflict drags on in the east of the country. This, in turn, has taken its toll on industries and export revenue, leaving the country's financial system bruised.

Multilateral negotiations Thursday in Minsk resulted in a tentative cease-fire agreement between pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and national forces. The conflict in part grew out of simmering disputes over Ukraine's gas ties to Russia reaching back to at least 2006.

Russian energy company Gazprom offered Ukraine some concessions on natural gas deliveries in exchange for agreements to settle outstanding debt. With the IMF loan, Gazprom said it's time Ukraine honors its commitments.

"Gazprom has every right to claim the funds," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told Russia's LifeNews TV channel.

Ukraine has been paying its $2 billion in debt to Gazprom in installments.

The Russian company said it was operating under the terms of historic documents embraced by the pre-conflict government in Ukraine, which extends through 2019. A so-called winter package gives Ukraine a discount on gas prices, though that deal expires March 31.

The European market gets about a quarter of its natural gas needs met by Russia, though most of that runs through the Soviet-era transit network in Ukraine.

The European Parliament called for better cooperation with Ukraine and other regional partners with the aim of "developing infrastructure and interconnectivity between the EU and its European neighbors independently from Russian gas geopolitics."