Gas transit ends: what does it mean for Kyiv?
Russian gas stopped flowing through Ukrainian pipelines to Europe at the end of the year after Kyiv refused to negotiate an extension of the transit deal with Moscow as long it continues to wage war against Ukraine. Only small amounts were still being supplied via this route anyway. Gazprom's only remaining pipelines run through Turkey to Hungary and just a couple of other countries.
A financial victory
This is a severe financial blow for the Kremlin, energy expert Mykhailo Honchar concludes in Espreso:
“Kyiv has withstood the Kremlin's onslaught of Trojan horses in the EU, it has not fallen for deceptive manoeuvres and has ultimately forced Moscow to halt its gas exports to Europe via Ukraine. ... As a result, the aggressor will lose six to six and a half billion US dollars a year in gas export revenues, one of its main sources for financing the war.”
Ukrainian gas pipelines will be targeted
Glavkom fears Russia will now target Ukraine's gas infrastructure:
“From the enemy's point of view there is a certain logic to this: 'If our gas no longer flows through the pipelines then no gas will flow through them.' Russia has no qualms about destroying not just military but also civilian infrastructure. And 'the pipe’ is an important asset. The targets will primarily be gas metering stations, the destruction of which would make the commercial use of the Ukrainian pipeline difficult or even impossible.”