Ukraine signed a contract with Pfizer for the supply of 10 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, significant help to the country facing a new spike of infections, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

“I am deeply grateful to Albert Bourla that after our conversation he kept his word and did everything to help the citizens of Ukraine in this difficult time of the pandemic”, - Zelenskiy said on Twitter, referring to the Pfizer chief executive.

Ukraine expects the entire volume of Pfizer vaccines to be delivered in 2021, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said in a separate statement, without providing further details.

Ukraine has lagged behind other European countries and has so far relied on a single batch of 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from India received in late February and 215,000 Sinovac doses from China in late March.