At the time, Volodymyr Zelensky was delighted with an agreement synonymous with “energy security” and “prosperity for Ukrainians”, which was to bring the country “more than 7 billion dollars” over five years.
But times have changed radically, and Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The conflict has since left hundreds of thousands dead and injured, both civilians and military personnel.
Russia regularly attacks Ukrainian energy infrastructure, plunging millions of residents into the cold and darkness in the middle of winter.
“This is a historic event”: kyiv and Moscow confirm the end of Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine
“Drastic impact”
Gazprom confirmed in a statement that “since 08:00 (05:00 GMT), Russian gas has not been supplied for transit through Ukraine.”
Its daily exports to Europe via Ukrainian territory amount to just over 14 billion cubic meters per year, according to official figures.
In this tense context, the price of European gas reached the symbolic mark of 50 euros per megawatt hour on Tuesday, a first in more than a year.
In recent weeks, Hungary and Slovakia have complained about seeing the tap cut off.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, well-disposed towards Vladimir Putin and whose country is very dependent on Russian gas supplies, warned on Wednesday of a “drastic impact on all of us in the EU”.
This nationalist leader went to Moscow on December 22 to try to find an urgent solution, provoking the anger of Volodymyr Zelensky, who accused him of wanting to “help Putin”.
EU says ready to overcome end of Russian gas transit via Ukraine
-Transdniestria without heating
Hungary receives most of its Russian gas imports via TurkStream, which passes under the Black Sea, and the cessation of transit via Ukraine will only marginally affect it, even if Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said “not wanting to abandon” this road.
Among kyiv’s closest allies, Poland, through its head of diplomacy Radoslaw Sikorski, for its part hailed “a new victory” over Moscow.
With the end of this transit and more than two years after the sabotage of the Nord Stream tubes in the Baltic Sea, Europe will now only be supplied with Russian gas by TurkStream, and its Balkan Stream extension. It also imports significant quantities of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) by LNG tankers.
If the EU claims to have prepared for such a scenario, the case of Moldova – which has declared a state of emergency – is more critical.
Gazprom had announced the cessation of deliveries even before kyiv formalized the end of the transit contract, in the context of a financial dispute with this former Soviet republic with European aspirations.
In this country, the pro-Russian separatist region of Transdniestria “is going through a difficult situation” after the local supplier Tiraspoltransgaz “interrupted the supply of natural gas and heating”, warned Moldovan government spokesperson Daniel Voda, calling for Russia to “stop its blackmail”.
Residents are invited to “dress warmly”, to “group in one room” and not to use homemade heating methods to prevent the risk of fire, according to a press release from an energy company.
The leader of the pro-Russian separatists, Vadim Krasnosselskiï, quickly recognized “a problem”. “The year did not start easily,” he admitted in a speech at the opening of an emergency meeting, an extract of which he published on Telegram.
The rest of Moldova is spared for the moment, notably thanks to help from neighboring Romania. It has no longer received Russian gas since the start of the war in Ukraine but depends for a large part of its electricity needs on the Transdniestrian thermal power station.
