UKraine on Wednesday suspended the supply of Russian gas to European customers through its pipeline network after a pre-war transport agreement expired at the end of 2024 and almost three years into Moscow's neighbor's attack.
Even as Russian troops and tanks moved into Ukraine in February 2022, Russian natural gas continued to flow through the country's pipeline network — established when Ukraine and Russia were both part of the Soviet Union — to Europe, under a five-year deal.
Russia's state-owned energy giant Gazprom received gas revenue and Ukraine collected transit fees.
Ukraine's energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, confirmed that Kyiv had canceled the trip “due to national security.”
“This is a historic event. Russia is losing markets and will have financial losses,” Halushchenko said on Wednesday in the Telegram messaging system. “Europe has already decided to completely cut off Russian gas, and (this) is in line with what Ukraine is doing today.”
At a conference in Brussels last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed that Kyiv would not allow Moscow to use transport to gain “more billions… in our blood, in the lives of our citizens.” However, he briefly raised the possibility that the gas supply would continue if payments to Russia were withheld until the end of the war.
Gazprom said in a statement on Wednesday that it is “technically and legally impossible” to send gas through Ukraine, due to Kyiv's refusal to extend the agreement.
Before the war, Russia supplied about 40% of the European Union's natural gas pipeline. The gas flowed through four pipeline systems, one under the Baltic Sea, one through Belarus and Poland, one through Ukraine and one under the Black Sea through Turkey to Bulgaria.
After the war began, Russia cut off many of the Baltic and Belarus-Poland pipelines, citing disputes over the need to pay in rubles. The Baltic pipeline was blown up as an act of sabotage, but the details of the attack remain sketchy.
Russia's disengagement caused an energy crisis in Europe. Germany had to shell out billions of euros to set up floating terminals to import liquefied natural gas that comes by ship, not by pipeline. Users slowed down as prices rose. Norway and the United States closed the gap, becoming the two largest suppliers.
Europe views Russia's cuts as an energy shortage and has unveiled plans to completely end Russian gas imports by 2027.
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that halting the flow would see Moscow lose “one of the most profitable and geographically accessible markets” for its gas. In a post on X, he said that Russia is “turning to the dishonest actions of allies.”
Russia's share of the EU pipeline natural gas market has dropped significantly to around 8% by 2023, according to data from the EU Commission. The Ukrainian transit route serves EU members Austria and Slovakia, which have long received large amounts of natural gas from Russia but have recently received a variety of aid.
Gazprom halted supplies to Austria's OMV in mid-November due to a contract dispute, but gas flows through Ukrainian pipelines continued as other customers stepped in. Slovakia this year entered into agreements to begin buying natural gas from Azerbaijan, and to import liquefied natural gas from the US. pipe from Poland.
Among the biggest hurdles will be EU candidate Moldova, which has been receiving Russian gas through Ukraine and has introduced emergency measures as residents brace for harsh winters and power outages.
Contrary to Kyiv's decision to let the transit agreement expire, Gazprom said last month it would suspend gas deliveries to Moldova from Jan. 1, citing an unpaid debt. Gazprom said it owes Moldova nearly $709 million for past gas consumption, a figure the country has strongly disputed.
Heat and hot water were suddenly cut off Wednesday to homes in Transnistria, a breakaway region from Moldova that has been held by Russian troops for decades, as Russian natural gas stopped flowing to the area, local transport operator Tiraspoltransgaz-Transnistria said.
In an online statement, the company urged residents to gather family members together in one room, hang blankets over windows and balcony doors, and use electric heaters. It said that some important institutions, including hospitals, do not have cut-off lines.
On December 13, Moldova's parliament voted to impose a state of emergency in the energy sector, as fears rose that gas shortages could cause a humanitarian crisis in Transnistria, which for decades has depended on Russian energy supplies.
Many observers have predicted that the coming energy shortages could force people in different areas to go to Moldova in the right direction, in search of basic supplies to get through the harsh winter and put more strain on services.
Politicians from Moldova, Ukraine and the EU have repeatedly accused Moscow of arming the power plant.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Radek Sikorski, called Ukraine's move to stop providing a win for those who oppose the Kremlin's policies. In a post to X, Sikorski accused Moscow of systematic efforts to “steal Eastern Europe with the threat of gas cuts,” including a Baltic pipeline that runs through Ukraine and Poland and runs to Germany.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Wednesday that the end of gas flows through Ukraine “will seriously affect all of us in the EU but not Russia.”
Fico, whose views on Russia are very different from those of Europe, has criticized Kyiv's refusal to extend the transit agreement, and threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine.
Moscow can still export gas to Hungary, as well as non-EU states Turkey and Serbia, via the TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea.
The ongoing reduction of Russian gas supplies to European countries has also encouraged them to accelerate the integration of Ukraine's electricity grids with its western neighbors.
Last week, Ukrainian private company DTEK said it had received its first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the US, delivered via a newly expanded six-country network from Greece to Ukraine – a key step in reducing the region's dependence on Russian energy.
Separately, on New Year's Eve, Russia launched a strike in Kyiv that left two people dead under the rubble of a damaged building, according to city officials. At least six people were injured in the capital of Ukraine, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Russian gunfire also killed a man and wounded two women in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, regional authorities reported.
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Kozlowska reported from London. Associated Press writers Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, and Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report.
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