Ukraine halts supply of Russian gas to Europe
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Ukraine ends agreement to allow gas to flow through its pipelines, with European supplies set to be tested as cold weather forecast later this week. Ukraine has halted Russian gas supplies to European customers through its pipeline network, almost three years into Moscow’s all-out invasion.
The move comes after a prewar transit deal expired during the final hours of 2024 and as the continent braces itself for a plunge in temperatures that could hasten the drain on gas reserves. Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, confirmed on Wednesday morning that Kyiv had stopped the transit “in the interest of national security” after Russia refused to alter its stance on the war.
“This is a historic event,” he said in an update on the Telegram messaging app. “Russia is losing markets and will incur financial losses. Europe has already decided to phase out Russian gas, and [this] aligns with what Ukraine has done today.”.
Gas prices have surged in the last four months in anticipation of the switch-off and the prospect of plummeting temperatures in Europe this winter. Russia was once the continent’s biggest supplier of gas but it has lost almost all of its EU customers since the war began, as buyers across central Europe have turned to the US, Norway and Qatar for supplies.
At a summit in Brussels last month, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, vowed that Kyiv would not allow Moscow to use the transits to earn “additional billions … on our blood, on the lives of our citizens.” But he had briefly held open the possibility of the gas flows continuing if payments to Russia were withheld until the war ended.
