Ukraine has stopped the flow of Russian gas to European Union states after a five-year deal came to an end.
According to BBC, the export of Russian natural gas via Ukraine to EU states halted on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. After Kyiv refused to renew the transit deal.
Ukraine’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko, stated, “We stopped the transit of Russian gas. This is a historic event. Russia is losing its markets, it will suffer financial losses. Europe has already made the decision to abandon Russian gas.”
Moreover, President Volodymyr Zelensky made clear that Ukraine would not allow Russia to “earn additional billions on our blood," whereas Poland called the halt “another victory" against Moscow.
Russia’s energy giant Gazprom, in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, wrote, “Due to the repeated and clearly expressed refusal of the Ukrainian side to renew these agreements, Gazprom was deprived of the technical and legal ability to supply gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine from January 1, 2025.”
Furthermore, the European Commission asserted that it is prepared to deal with the new change, and most of its states are capable of coping with this challenge.
Notably, Russia can still export natural gas to Hungary, Turkey, and Serbia via the TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea.
