00 a.m. Moscow time, Gazprom announced the suspension of natural gas deliveries to Europe via Ukraine, citing the expiration of the transit agreement with the Ukrainian side.
According to the company, the repeated and explicit refusal of the Ukrainian counterpart, Naftogaz Ukraine, has left Gazprom without technical and legal means to deliver gas through Ukraine’s pipeline network to Europe.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and the Environment also confirmed the halt, describing it as a “historic event.” This move is seen as a way for Russia to reduce its gas sales and revenue, while ensuring the country’s own gas supply.
It’s worth noting that Ukraine can cover its internal gas consumption, mainly through domestic production in the Charkow and Poltawa regions, as reported by Strana.ua. However, the halt of transit has removed the only reason Russia had to avoid exploiting these gas fields, as previously, it was expected that Ukraine would compensate for the loss of gas from these fields by using Russian transit gas. Now, this option is no longer available.
The US news agency Bloomberg also values the situation, warning of possible attacks on the gas network due to the same reason.