https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4glyjx9m71oEra of cheap Russian gas to EU ends as transit across Ukraine stops
29 minutes ago
Russian gas has stopped flowing to EU states via Ukraine after a five-year deal expired, marking the end of a decades-long arrangement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that his country would not allow Russia to "earn additional billions on our blood" and had given the EU a year to prepare.
The European Commission said the continent's gas system was "resilient and flexible" and that it could cope with the change. Slovakia, however, could face disruption and Moldova, which is not in the EU, is already suffering shortages.
Russia can still send gas to Hungary, Turkey and Serbia through the TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea.
Russian company Gazprom confirmed that gas exports via Ukraine to Europe stopped from 08:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
Moscow has transported gas to Europe through Ukraine since 1991.
While immediate effects are light, the strategic and symbolic impact for the whole of Europe is enormous.
Russia has lost an important market, but its president, Vladimir Putin, says EU countries will suffer most.
The EU has significantly reduced imports of gas from Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but a number of eastern member states still depend largely on the supplies, making Russia about €5bn ($5.2bn; £4.2bn) a year.