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Ukraine has stopped transporting Russian gas supplies through the country after a pre-war transit agreement expired at the end of last year, the country’s energy minister confirmed.
The Minister of Energy of Ukraine, Herman Halushchenko he said Wednesday morning on the Telegram messaging app that traffic was stopped “in the interest of national security.”
“This is a historical fact. 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, according to a translation from The Associated Press.
Russia’s Gazprom he said in a statement that Kiev’s refusal to extend the deal means the state-owned energy corporation has “no technical or legal possibility” to send gas through Ukraine. The transport stopped at 8 a.m. Moscow time, Gazprom said.
Although Russia’s war against Ukraine began in 2022, Russian natural gas flowed through the country’s pipeline network, established when both nations were part of the Soviet Union, to Europe under a five-year deal . Ukraine collected transit fees, while Gazprom made money from the gas.
Almost 40 percent of the European Union’s pipeline natural gas was supplied by Russia before the war. When the fighting began, an energy crisis followed in Europe since Russia cut off most supplies through other pipelines. Since then, Europe has outlined plans to do so remove completely Russian gas imports for 2027.
Associated Press contributed.
