"Historic event." Ukraine stopped the transit of Russian gas

On Wednesday, January 1, 2025, the five-year agreement on the transit of Russian gas between Ukraine and Russia expired. As of 7:00 a.m., gas transportation from the Sudzha entry point on the eastern border to the western and southern exit points was suspended, the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator and the Ministry of Energy reported.

The official explanation is that the suspension was "in the interests of national security."

"We stopped the transit of Russian gas, this is a historic event. Russia is losing markets, it will suffer financial losses. Europe has already made a decision to abandon Russian gas. And the European initiative Repower EU provides for exactly what Ukraine did today," Minister Herman Galushchenko commented on the suspension of transit.

The Russian side's statement differs significantly from the Ukrainian version. Gazprom claims that Ukraine has "repeatedly and clearly" refused to extend the transit agreements. As a result, the Russian company said in its statement, it has lost the technical and legal ability to supply gas through Ukrainian territory.

Gazprom now has only Turkish Stream left to export gas to the EU.

The Ukrainian GTS is starting to operate in zero transit conditions for the first time, and the system operator has assured that it is ready for this.

In recent years, alternative opportunities have emerged for supplying gas to Ukraine and through it to Europe: the "Vertical Gas Corridor" has been created, which allows importing gas from the south, and guaranteed capacities from Poland have been provided.

The company optimized expenses for its own needs and unused assets.

• In 2019, Gazprom and Naftogaz signed a five-year transit contract, under which the Ukrainian company acted as the organizer of gas transportation. The direct transit was carried out by the GTS Operator, which is not part of the Naftogaz group.
• Before the full-scale aggression against Ukraine, Russia was the main supplier of gas to Europe. The war and damage to the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022 led to the EU reorienting itself to other suppliers.
• Since May 2022, Ukraine has stopped gas transit through the Sokhranivka gas metering station due to the occupation of the northern part of the Luhansk region by the Russians, and Russia has refused to transfer these volumes to the Sudzha gas metering station.
• As a result, in 2023, gas transit through Ukraine decreased to 15 billion cubic meters, which was only 8% of the peak volumes of Russian gas exports via various routes in 2018-2019.
• At the end of 2024, after the termination of the contract between Gazprom and the Austrian OMV, Slovakia remained the only last major consumer of Russian gas, receiving it through Ukraine.