Ukraine halts natural gas deliveries from Russia to EU

Russian gas firm Gazprom on Wednesday morning stopped delivering natural gas through Soviet-era pipelines that run through Ukraine, the firm said on social media. The move came after Ukraine refused to renew a decades-long agreement with the firm that permitted Russian gas to flow through the country Under the agreement, Russian gas continued to move through Ukraine to Europe even as the war raged on for nearly 3 years. Kyiv collected transit fees from the deal while it lasted.

Ukrainian officials ended the deal in the interest of national security, Minister of Energy Herman Halushchenko wrote on social media on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian leader Vladimir Putin had weaponized the supply of natural gas to influence Eastern European nations.

How will this affect the rest of Europe? The European Union has already prepared for the cutoff by slashing its dependence on Russian gas after the start of the war in Ukraine. The bloc has a goal of completely cutting its Russian gas imports by 2027. It has increased its imports from Norway, the United States, and North Africa in recent years, according to the EU think tank Bruegel. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski cheered the end of the deal with Ukraine and said the move would halt Russia’s ability to export gas to the EU.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico on Wednesday said halting Russian gas transit through Ukraine would impact the EU and argued that the end of the deal would drive up natural gas prices. A region of Moldova that neighbors Ukraine on Wednesday morning cut off households’ gas supplies used for heating and hot water, according to Reuters.

Dig deeper: Listen to Anna Johansen Brown’s report about what winter is like for people in Ukraine.