Ukraine on Wednesday halted supplies of Russian gas to European customers through its pipeline network after a pre-war transit deal expired late last year.
Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko confirmed on Wednesday morning that kyiv had stopped the transit “in the interests of national security.”
“This is a historic event. Russia is losing markets and will suffer financial losses. “Europe has already decided to phase out Russian gas and (this) aligns with what Ukraine has done today,” Halushchenko said in an update to the Telegram messaging app.
At a summit in Brussels last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised that kyiv would not allow Moscow to use transits to earn “additional billions… in our blood, in the lives of our citizens.” But he had briefly left open the possibility that gas flows would continue if payments to Russia were withheld until the war ended.
Russia's Gazprom said in a statement Wednesday morning that it has “no technical and legal possibility” to ship gas through Ukraine, due to kyiv's refusal to extend the deal.
Even as Russian troops and tanks entered Ukraine in 2022, Russian natural gas continued to flow through the country's gas pipeline network (created when Ukraine and Russia were part of the Soviet Union) to Europe, under an agreement of five years. Gazprom made money on gas and Ukraine charged transit fees.
Before the war, Russia supplied almost 40% of the European Union's pipeline natural gas. 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 most supplies through the Baltic and Belarus-Poland pipelines, citing disputes over a demand for payment in rubles. The Baltic pipeline was blown up in an act of sabotage, but details of the attack remain unclear.
The Russian outage caused an energy crisis in Europe. Germany had to spend billions of euros to install floating terminals to import liquefied natural gas that arrives by ship, not by gas pipeline. Users cut back as prices soared. Norway and the United States filled the gap, becoming the two largest suppliers.
Europe viewed the Russian cut as energy blackmail and has outlined plans to completely eliminate Russian gas imports by 2027.
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Russia's share of the EU pipeline natural gas market fell sharply to around 8% in 2023, according to EU Commission data. The Ukrainian transit route served EU members Austria and Slovakia, which have long gotten most of their natural gas from Russia but have recently struggled to diversify supplies.
Gazprom halted supplies to Austria's OMV in mid-November due to a contract dispute, but gas flows through Ukraine's pipelines continued while other customers stepped in. This year Slovakia signed agreements to start purchasing natural gas from Azerbaijan and also to import American liquefied natural gas via a pipeline from Poland.
Among the worst affected will be EU candidate country Moldova, which received Russian gas through Ukraine and has adopted emergency measures as residents prepare for a harsh winter and looming power cuts.
Aside from kyiv's decision to let the transit deal expire, Gazprom said last month it will stop gas supplies to Moldova starting Jan. 1, citing unpaid debt. Gazprom has said Moldova owes about $709 million for past gas supplies, a figure the country has fiercely disputed, citing international audits.
Heat and hot water supplies to homes in Transnistria, the breakaway region of Moldova that has hosted Russian troops for decades, were abruptly cut off Wednesday when Russian natural gas stopped flowing into the territory, the local transit operator said. Tiraspoltransgaz-Transnistria.
In an online statement, the company urged residents to gather family members in a single room, hang blankets over windows and balcony doors and use electric heaters. He said some key facilities, including hospitals, were exempt from the cuts.
On December 13, Moldova's parliament voted to impose a state of emergency in the energy sector, as fears grew that gas shortages could trigger a humanitarian crisis in Transnistria, for decades dependent on Russian energy supplies.
Many observers have predicted that looming energy shortages could force people from the breakaway territory to travel to Moldova proper, seeking basic services to get them through the harsh winter and putting further pressure on resources.
Moldova, Ukraine and EU politicians have repeatedly accused Moscow of weaponizing energy supplies.
On Wednesday, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called Ukraine's decision to suspend supplies a “victory” for those who oppose the Kremlin's policies. In a post on to Germany.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Wednesday that the end of gas flows through Ukraine “will drastically affect all of us in the EU, but not Russia.”
Fico, whose views on Russia differ sharply from those of the European mainstream, previously criticized kyiv's refusal to extend the transit agreement and threatened to end electricity supplies to Ukraine in response.
Moscow can still send gas to Hungary, as well as non-EU states Turkey and Serbia, via the TurkStream gas pipeline across the Black Sea.
The constant reduction of Russian gas supplies to European countries has also prompted them to accelerate the integration of Ukraine's energy networks with its western neighbors.
Last week, Ukrainian private energy company DTEK said it had received its first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the United States, which will be delivered through a newly expanded network spanning six countries, from Greece to Ukraine, marking a step significant to reduce regional dependence on Russia. energy.
Separately, on the night of New Year's Day, Russia launched a drone attack in kyiv that left two people dead under the rubble of a damaged building, according to the city administration. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, at least six people were injured throughout the Ukrainian capital.
Russian bombing also killed one man and wounded two women in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, regional authorities reported.